Nicaragua

CHRISTMAS—NACIMIENTOS—THE CATHEDRAL ON CHRISTMAS EVE—MIDNIGHT CEREMONIES—AN ALARM—ATTEMPT AT REVOLUTION—FIGHT IN THE PLAZA—TRIUMPH OF ORDER—THE DEAD—MELANCHOLY SCENES—A SCHEME OF FEDERATION.

Christmas is celebrated with much ceremony in all Catholic countries; and upon my return to Leon, I found the Señoras of the city busily engaged in preparing for it. I was delighted to learn that we were to have something a little different from the eternal bombas and interminable processions. In nearly every house, a room was set apart for a representation of the nacimiento, or birth, in which the taste of the mistresses was variously exhibited. When these are arranged, on the evening before Christmas, they are thrown open to inspection, and for a week the principal business of the women and children is to go from house to house, to see the nacimientos, criticise, and institute comparisons. I saw but two, at the houses respectively of Gen. Muñoz, and my friend Col. Zapata. In each case the representation filled an entire half of a large room. Two or three young palms were set on each side of the apartment, so as to embower a kind of grotto, covered all over with brilliant shells and stones, and draped with vines and flowers. Within this grotto was a miniature figure of the Virgin and the Infant Jesus, surrounded by the kneeling figures of the Magi, Saint Joseph, “Nuestra Señor San Joaquin,” and “Nuestra Señora Santa Ana,” the husband of Mary, and the accredited grandfather and grandmother of the holy babe.

The room was darkened, and the effect very beautiful; for the whole was brilliantly illuminated by concealed candles, and the figures multiplied, and the perspective rendered almost interminable by small, but artfully arranged mirrors. A railing prevented any one from approaching so near as to weaken the effect, or discover the arrangement. At this time everybody, whatever his condition, is allowed to enter, unquestioned, into every house which has its nacimiento; and it was a singular spectacle to witness brawny Indians, naked children, and gayly-dressed Señoras grouped together, and gazing in decorous silence upon a spectacle so closely interwoven with their traditions, and suggestive of the most cherished doctrines of their church. Señora Zapata carried off the palm of honor; her nacimiento was not more tastefully nor more expensively got up than the others; but she had put a music-box, with a boy to wind it up, behind the scenes, which regularly tinkled through its round of tunes, commencing with the “Marsellaise,” and ending with “A Life on the Ocean Wave.” This was unanimously voted to be about “the thing,” and the little Indians of Subtiaba thronged the Colonel’s doors from early dawn to midnight, unwearied listeners to the unseen musician, and no doubt believing that the melodies were produced by the extraordinary Magi who knelt so stiffly and grim around the Virgin Mother. The exhibition of the nacimiento continues for nine days, and the period is therefore sometimes called a Novena.

But the crowning features of Christmas were the ceremonies on the eve of that day, in the Cathedral. Here, back of the great altar, was a representation of the adoration of the Magi on a grand scale. Large trees bent above the stable occupied by the Holy Family, and the figures introduced were nearly as large as life. Heavy curtains hung from the ceiling upon either hand, behind which strong lights threw a flood of radiance upon the scene, while the rest of the great temple was shrouded in darkness, or but dimly revealed by the reflected light, and by the lamps of the musicians in the choir, and of the chanting priests in the nave beneath it. It was hardly dark before the people began to gather from all parts of the city, including hundreds who had come from the neighboring villages. When I reached the Cathedral, the entire central aisle was filled with kneeling women, their heads shrouded in their rebosos, or covered with mantillas, gazing in silence upon the holy group, while the music of the choir and the monotonous chants of the priests seemed to be almost lost amongst the columns and arches, in low, wandering echoes. As the night advanced, the devotional feelings of the silent multitude became roused, a hum of prayer filled the Cathedral, and as midnight approached, many of the women seemed lost in wild, religious fervor; the notes of the musicians, and the voices of the priests, before subdued, now rose high and exultant; and when the clock announced midnight, all the bells of the city struck up a joyful chime, and the vast auditory rising to its feet, joined in the triumphant refrain, “Jubilate! Christ is born!” A procession of priests advanced; and the Virgin and Son were reverently placed upon a crimson cushion, and beneath a silken canopy, supported by rods of silver, they were carried out into the plaza, where the military, with arms presented, heads uncovered, and bending on one knee, paid their adoration, while the procession moved slowly around the square, repeating, “Hosannah! hosannah! Christ is born!” How late the ceremonies continued I know not, for I went home and to bed, not a little impressed by the scene which I had witnessed.

But little more than a week after this, I was witness of a widely different scene in the same plaza. It was a quiet and exceeding beautiful afternoon. An American friend from Honduras had dined with me, and we were discussing a luscious papaya, preparatory to the afternoon siesta in the hammocks under the corridor, when we heard a sudden firing in the direction of the plaza. The sound of the discharges appeared to me to be singularly distinct and emphatic, but supposing that some fiesta was in progress, with the usual bomba accompaniment, I made no remark. The discharges continued, and became more general, and shortly after Ben entered the room hurriedly, and touching his hat said, “Sir, I think there’s a revolution!”

“Oh, no, Ben, it is only some fiesta.”

“But, sir, the spent balls have fallen in the court!”

I had no time to reply, before the alarm, “Un asalto de las armas!” was raised in the streets, and the next moment a crowd of women and children, terror depicted in every face, rushed through the open zaguan, and along the corridors. These were followed by a confused mass, bare-headed, and in the greatest disorder, which came pouring over the walls into my courtyard. They all crowded around me for protection. Amongst them were a dozen young men, who should have taken their arms, and rallied to the aid of the authorities, but who stood here pale and craven. My predominant feeling towards these was anger and contempt; and I directed Ben to raise the United States flag, and stationed my American friend with a drawn sword at the door, with orders to admit all women, children, and old men, but not to allow a single able-bodied man to enter. While this was going on, the firing continued, and women, with trunks, boxes, and bundles, containing their valuables, thronged into my house for safety, filling the rooms and corridors, and huddling in groups in the courtyard. Some prayed, and others ran wildly here and there in quest of their children, or husbands, or brothers, wringing their hands, and appealing to me to save them.

The whole affair was a surprise, and comprehending how important to the country was interior quiet at this moment, I instantly determined to encounter all risks, and endeavor to put a stop to the outbreak before it should proceed to general hostilities. Accompanied by Ben, I mounted my horse and started for the plaza. The streets were filled with the flying, terrified inhabitants, who, in reply to every question, only ejaculated, “Un asalto de las armas!” and pointed hopelessly in the direction of the plaza. At the first corner I met Dr. Clark returning from visiting a patient in the suburbs, and tossing him a pistol, he joined us. At that moment, the President of the State, accompanied by his secretary, dashed past us towards the seat of the commotion. We followed; but the firing now slackened, and just as we reached the plaza, ceased altogether. The smoke rose a little as we entered, and I was rejoiced to see the erect form of General Muñoz, at the head of a column of veterans, advancing with fixed bayonets towards the principal cuartel. The next moment he commanded a halt, and his men deployed into line. He strode down the ranks, leading off in the shout, “Viva el Gobierno Supreme! Mueran á los enemigos del orden!” in which the men joined in a half frantic tone of exultation.

The soldiers now caught sight of me, and spontaneously commenced cheering for the United States; the Bishop, who had made his appearance on the balcony of his house, joining in the shouts. The General advanced, and shaking my hand, said rapidly, all was over and all was well, and then, with the promptitude of a man equal to every emergency, detached the various divisions of his men to the more important points in the city. The soldiers defiled past, and at the head of a detachment, his eyes flashing with excitement, and every movement indicating the energy of his character, was the negro officer to whom I have elsewhere referred. I observed that his sword was dripping with blood.

The movement of the soldiers disclosed the front of the general cuartel, and exposed a spectacle such as I hope never again to see. Beneath the archway, still clutching their weapons, were the bodies of two men, who seemed to have been killed in endeavoring to force an entrance; while a little in front, his garments saturated with blood, was the body of a well-dressed man, over whom a woman was kneeling. Her hands were clasped upon his shoulders, and she was gazing with an expression of unutterable anguish into his fixed, cold eyes. I rode nearer, and recognized in the person of the dead man my friend Don José Maria Morales, Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice, who, at the first alarm, had rushed to the support of the Government, and had fallen a victim to his zeal. The woman was his sister, who seeing him engaged, regardless of all danger, had penetrated the array of combatants, to his side. But it was too late; he could only ejaculate “mi hermana!” my sister, and died in her arms. The spectacle was most affecting; and the tears glistened in the eyes of the rude men who stood around the living and the dead.

I turned from this sad spectacle, and then observed, drawn up in front of the Cathedral, a body of some two hundred citizens, who, at the instant the commotion was known, had repaired, arms in hand, to the plaza. This was the first time they had done so for years, and it afforded the best evidence of the spirit which hope had infused into the hitherto despondent people of the country. It showed that they were now determined to maintain public order, and instead of flying to the fields upon the first symptoms of disturbance, to stand by their families and property, and defend their rights and their homes.

When I reached my house, I found that the crowd of refugees had already nearly dispersed. They were used to these things; revolutions with them were like thunder storms, here one moment, gone the next. My rooms nevertheless were still encumbered with valuables, and during the rest of the afternoon, in anticipation of every contingency, packages of papers and of money continued to come in. I will venture to say, more than a hundred thousand dollars in gold was brought to my room, within the space of two hours, and chiefly by persons who were not suspected of having an extra medio in the world. Experience had taught them the necessity of keeping a sum of ready money at hand, in event of revolution; and also of keeping it so completely concealed, as not to excite a suspicion of their possessing it. I placed it all within a large chest, where most of it remained for two or three months, until all symptoms of disorder had passed away.

The city was full of rumors concerning the escaramuza, and it was not until late in the evening, when I was called upon by Señor Buitrago, Secretary of War, that I learned the facts in the case. It proved that the assault was made by a party of disaffected men belonging to the Barrio of the Laberinto, in which is concentrated the worst part of the population of the city, under the lead of two men of notorious character, who had both been killed, and whose bodies I had seen beneath the archway of the cuartel. Their plans had been matured with the profoundest secrecy, and evidently by men moving in a different sphere of life, and having the control of considerable ready money. The time and mode of the attack had been well chosen. During the festivals of Christmas and the New Year, a large number of cane booths had been erected in the plaza; and the conspirators, half a dozen at a time, had entered the square, and dispersed themselves amongst these booths, concealing their arms beneath their clothes. In this manner several hundreds had come in unsuspected. The point of attack was the Cuartel General, in which the arms of the State are deposited, and at the entrance of which only a half dozen men were on guard; the rest of the little garrison, at this time of the day, being occupied with their dinner. A few of the leading facciosos carelessly advanced in front of the building, as if to pass it, and then made a sudden rush upon the little guard, with the view of disarming them, and taking the rest by surprise. The movement was made, and in an instant the conspirators in the booths advanced from their concealment, shouting, “Down with the Government!” The little guard at the gate was overpowered, and had it not been for the negro officer Clemente Rodriguez, it is likely the cuartel would have been captured. He was stationed at the opposite side of the square, at the cabildo, with a picquet guard of thirty men. Seeing the commotion, and supposing there was a revolt among the men of the principal cuartel, he ordered his guard to fire upon the confused mass which had collected in front of it. His example was followed by the guard at the Government House and the Cathedral. Distracted by this unexpected demonstration in their rear, the facciosos hesitated, affording time for the garrison to recover their arms. This was the critical moment, and Clemente, charging with fixed bayonets, decided the struggle, killing the leader of the insurgents with his own hands. In a few minutes the General, at the head of the company stationed at the Church of the Mercedes, reached the plaza. But the facciosos were all gone, no one knew where. They had mingled with the populace, the instant they saw that failure was inevitable, and no doubt hurrahed as loudly for the Government five minutes thereafter, as if they had always been its warmest supporters.

The vigilance of the authorities was again roused; and the city, for a month, wore something of the aspect which it bore upon our arrival. A number of arrests were made, but the details and instigators of the plot were never discovered. There were some facts disclosed, however, which would hardly be credited in the United States, where foreign intrigue never attempts the direct subversion of the government, and which I therefore pass over in silence.

Two days after this event, the body of Señor Morales was buried, with striking and unaffected demonstrations of sorrow.sorrow. The corpse was followed to the grave by all the officers of the garrison, and minute guns were fired from the plaza during the burial. Scarcely a week elapsed, before the broken-hearted sister, prostrated by the catastrophe of her brother’s death, was laid beside him in the Church of La Merced. The negro officer, Rodriguez, for his decision and bravery, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

During the month of November, the Commissioners of Honduras, San Salvador, and Nicaragua had been in session, in the city of Leon, and had agreed upon the basis of a union of these States, the terms of which were promulgated about this period, for the first time. The arrangement looked to an immediate or speedy consolidation, for the purpose of conducting the foreign relations of the country, and to an early union on the plan of a federation, leaving it optional with the States of Guatemala and Costa Rica to accede to the compact. This policy was opposed by the old aristocratic or monarchical faction, or rather the remnants of it; and they, it is believed, were at the bottom of the disturbances to which I have referred. In Honduras, in the month following, they attempted a revolution, with the view of preventing the contemplated union; and although they there met with better success at the outset than in Nicaragua, they signally failed in the end, notwithstanding that they had the countenance and support of the British officials in the country; who, at this time, both in Costa Rica and in Guatemala, by publications and otherwise, not only denounced the whole plan of federation, and what they called the “American Policy,” but threatened to break it down, whenever its organization should be attempted.