The war in Nicaragua

In tracing the introduction of the American element into Nicaraguan society, it has hitherto been convenient to follow events in the order of time. As the facts become more complex it will be requisite to group them so that their relative relations may be distinctly seen, and thus the policy of the Rivas administration may appear with the unity it really possessed. The domestic policy of the government first claims our attention: for its foreign relations were the consequences of the internal changes it aimed to effect. Thus, too, we may clearly perceive the cause of the war which afterward raged in Nicaragua.

From the outset the Provisional President aimed to heal the civil discords, which had heretofore divided not only districts but even families. With this view appointments to the principal offices were made indifferently from both of the old parties, and the Legitimists were, in spite of the Corral conspiracy, invited to share with the Democrats in the duties of government. Rivas was himself moderate in his political opinions and was much disposed to place in office men of the same stamp. He was also honest and, therefore, desired the co-operation of all “hombres de bien,” good men, in the Republic. Hence his gratification when he was able to secure for the service of the State such men as D. José, Maria Hurtado, who occupied the place of prefect of the Meridional Department. His aversion to the dishonest Democrats, such as Trinidad Salazar, forced on him by the Leonese element in his cabinet, was strong, and it was with reluctance that he consented to appoint such men to responsible offices.

The authorities of the Church zealously co-operated with the civil power to allay the passions which had so long divided the State, and the servants of Christ did not fail in their public as in their private ministrations, to inculcate the doctrines of peace and good-will characteristic of their faith. Soon after the inauguration of the new government, the vicar-general, Father José Hilario Herdocia, wrote from Leon, the seat of the See of Nicaragua, congratulating Walker on the success of his efforts to secure peace; and the general-in-chief, in his reply, was careful to deny the charge of irreligion the enemies of the Americans had brought against them. “It is very acceptable,” so the general wrote, “for me to hear that the authority of the Church will be used in favor of the existing government. Without the aid of religious sentiments and religious teachers there can be no good government; for the fear of God is the foundation of all social and political organization.... In God I put my trust for the success of the cause in which I am embarked and for the maintenance of the principles I advocate. Without his aid all human efforts are unavailing, but with his divine assistance a few may triumph over a legion.” The bishopric of the diocese being vacant, the vicar-general was the highest ecclesiastical authority of the State, and during all the trials through which the Republic passed, Father Herdocia worthily and faithfully performed the duties of his holy office. Had the good father been able to influence by his conduct all the priests within his diocese, the dissensions of the country would have been speedily cured. But, unfortunately in Nicaragua as elsewhere the tonsure does not always destroy the earthly passions of the mortal; and the emblematic crown of thorns may be worn by those possessed of little of the spirit of humility which adorned the Holy Redeemer.

To secure internal order, however, Rivas did not rely so much on the efforts of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities to extinguish the party passions of the past, as on the speedy increase of the American element in the government of the Republic. Therefore one of his earliest decrees was that of colonization. By this decree each adult immigrating to the State was entitled to two hundred and fifty acres from the public lands, and after six months’ residence on it might secure a title for the same. A family was entitled to a hundred additional acres, and all personal effects, furniture, agricultural implements, seeds, plants, and domestic animals, were permitted to pass in free of duty. A director of colonization, Mr. Joseph W. Fabens, was appointed to carry out the objects of the decree, and to collect seeds and plants for the use of immigrants. The decree was published the 23d of November, 1855.

As a means of diffusing information concerning the natural resources and advantages of Nicaragua, no less than as a chronicle of current events, the newspaper called “El Nicaraguense” had been established at Granada soon after the signature of the treaty of peace. It was printed with types found in the town at the time of its capture, and one half of the paper was published in English, the other half in Spanish. To collect such knowledge of the country as might be useful to immigrants, commissioners were sent into different parts of the Republic, and their reports were duly published. First, George H. Campbell, formerly of Calaveras county, California, explored a portion of Chontales. Then a Saxon, Max Sonnenstern, visited not only Chontales, but other districts, and his reports were full of useful facts. These surveys were made under the direction of the general-in-chief, and the expenses of them were paid almost entirely from the chest of the commissary of war. In fact, for some time, there was no other fund from which to defray the civil no less than the military expenses of the State.

But in addition to these acts, by which it was expected to introduce American colonists into Nicaragua, a decree was also published authorizing the general-in-chief to increase the American element of the army. Under the contract of Castellon, dated in the July previous, Walker was empowered to raise three hundred men for the military service of the State; and early in December Jerez drew up the decree fixing the pay and emoluments of those enlisted by the general. Before this the question has probably suggested itself as to the means by which Americans had been already brought to Granada; and the answer to this involves the policy which was pursued in reference to the Accessory Transit Company. As the course the Rivas government pursued toward this corporation has been much misrepresented and censured, it is necessary to narrate fully the facts as they occurred, and to explain clearly the causes for the revocation of the company’s charter. It will then be seen that this important act of the Rivas administration was vital to its safety and welfare, no less than just toward a corporation which had abused the privileges granted to it.

Before leaving San Francisco Walker had tried to ascertain the wishes of the Transit Company concerning the introduction of Americans into Nicaragua. It was generally said that the company was indebted to the Republic in a large amount, and Walker hoped to secure its co-operation by proposing an advantageous mode of settling this debt. But the agent of the company in California stated that his principals had instructed him to have nothing to do with such enterprises as he supposed Walker to contemplate. The company, however, did not practise that neutrality between the contending parties in Nicaragua, its instructions to the California agent seemed to inculcate. In July, 1855, they sent from New-York to Castillo a company of armed men, organized militarily for the purpose, as was alleged, of protecting their property on the Isthmus. These men were mostly Europeans—Poles, French, Germans, and Italians. A brother of Walker happened to be aboard of the steamer which carried these men from New-York to San Juan del Norte, and saw them, a few days after leaving the former display, the uniform provided for their use in Nicaragua. After remaining several weeks at Castillo, most of these men were engaged by D. Patricio Rivas at San Carlos for the service of the Legitimist government, and were a part of the force under Corral during the months of September and October.

These men, gathered from all nations and professing to be nothing but pure mercenaries, using their arms for no higher purpose than the pay they got, were intended for the special object of protecting the property of the company from one H. L. Kinney, who, it was said, aimed at punishing the corporation for the wrongs he fancied he had received at its hands. Kinney had been engaged in trade on the frontier between Texas and Mexico, and had been suspected by many Texans, during the days of independence, of giving information to their enemies for the privilege of trading beyond the Rio Grande. He had acquired that sort of knowledge and experience of human nature derived from the exercise of the mule-trade, and having succeeded in making money, by bargaining for horses and cattle, he fancied himself capable of establishing an American colony on the Musquito shore. Alleging that he had an interest in the Shepard and Haley grant from the Musquito chief, he went to Washington for the purpose of interesting influential persons in his colonization schemes. Through the instrumentality of one Phillips, a Washington correspondent for newspapers, he made the acquaintance of Sidney Webster, the private secretary of the President; and Webster becoming interested in Kinney’s projects, it was surmised that Mr. Pierce and the government would be favorable to them. It was also reported—but with how much truth it is almost impossible from the character of the witnesses to determine—that the Accessory Transit Company engaged to co-operate with Kinney. But the United States Government, willingly or unwillingly, was led by the remonstrances of Marcoleta, the representative of Nicaragua at Washington, to take steps against the Kinney movement. Then, too, the Accessory Transit Company pronounced against the colonial projector, and Kinney, breathing fire against the traitors, as he called them, escaped to San Juan del Norte with an inconsiderable body of followers. Hence the pretext for the mercenaries who finally fell into the ranks of the Legitimists.

In the month of June, Estrada had appointed D. Gabriel Lacayo and D. Rafael Tejada commissioners, to proceed to New-York, and to treat with the company concerning its liabilities to the State, and Castellon soon afterward notified the corporation that he would consider null and void any settlement made with these commissioners. In July, Castellon appointed Colonel Walker commissioner to negotiate and arrange with the company, and that officer showed his credentials to the agent, Mr. Cushing, a few hours after the action at Virgin Bay on the 3d of September. Mr. Cushing, as he said, notified the company of Walker’s powers, but nothing was ever attempted to be arranged under this authority. During September and October, while the democratic forces occupied the Transit, their relations with the agents and servants of the company were of the most friendly character.

When Colonel Gilman arrived at San Juan del Sur he gave Walker to understand that there was a struggle in the company itself, between rivals parties aiming to get the control of it. The impression made on Walker was that the agents in New-York and San Francisco were acting together to depress the market price of the stock, so as to buy in and get the majority of the shares. The advance by Macdonald, however, indicated another plan on the part of Garrison and Morgan. With the conviction that Garrison might be brought to co-operate largely in the policy of introducing the American element into Nicaragua, Walker wrote to an intimate friend, A. P. Crittenden, of San Francisco, saying that any arrangements he might make to get five hundred men into the country would be fully approved. This letter was written immediately after the signature of the treaty of peace; the necessity for more Americans in Nicaragua was urgent, and Walker had entire faith in Crittenden’s honor and discretion.

Meanwhile the president of the company in New-York was, early in the month of November, peremptorily notified, under a clause of the charter, to appoint commissioners to settle the matters in controversy with the government. To the notification given by the Minister of Hacienda the company replied, enclosing an opinion of the counsel of the corporation, Joseph L. White. The opinion maintained that the matter had passed from the hands of the company, by the appointment of two commissioners to treat with Tejada and Lacayo, although the powers of these latter had been formally revoked, and the four, even if properly appointed, had not, as the charter required, appointed a fifth to complete the commission. The answer of the president of the company was a mere evasion; and while this official correspondence went on, White, who was the leading mind of the corporation, was writing letters to the agent, Mr. Cushing, threatening the authorities unless they settled with the company on its own terms.

On the 17th of December, 1855, Edmund Randolph, accompanied by W. R. Garrison, a son of C. K. Garrison, and by Macdonald, arrived at San Juan del Sur, and soon afterward reached the headquarters of the army at Granada. The friendship between Randolph, Crittenden, and Walker, was of a character not to be expressed by words; but the existence of such a sentiment between these three is essential for an understanding of the perfect confidence which marked their acts in reference to the Transit. And to the noblest qualities of the heart, Randolph and Crittenden added the loftiest attributes of the intellect. To those who have heard the former at the bar, it will not be deemed the voice of friendship alone speaking, when it is said that his legal talents are such as would adorn courts when learning, and logic, and eloquence, were more appropriate to the profession than they appear to be in these latter days. And they who have studied the legislation of California—not the evanescent laws born of party passion or impure interest, but those which mould society, and form its habits—can best appreciate the capacity, and the patient labor of Parker Crittenden.

After reaching Granada, Randolph informed Walker that he and Crittenden had carefully examined the charter of the Accessory Transit Company, and were both clear and decided in the opinion that it had been forfeited. Then he stated what the lawyers would call the points of the case; and they were almost too clear for argument. As they are fully stated in the decree whereby the charter of the Transit Company, and of the Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company were revoked, they will properly appear when the publication of that decree is narrated. Suffice it to say, at present, that after due reflection Walker was entirely satisfied as to the views of Randolph and Crittenden. At the same time Walker was informed that under his letter Crittenden had agreed with Garrison to obtain a new transit charter from the government of Nicaragua, and with this view Randolph had come to Granada. In virtue of this agreement of Crittenden with Garrison, more than a hundred Americans for the service of the Republic came down with Randolph on the steamer Sierra Nevada; and it was promised that as many as possible should be hereafter brought from California; Garrison advancing to the State the price of their passages.

Up to that time nearly all the Americans in Nicaragua had come from California, and a very large proportion of them had been brought thither at the expense of Garrison. The immigration into the country by persons paying their own passage was small; for at that time little was known in the United States of the natural advantages of Nicaragua. It was necessary to get at once a number of persons capable of bearing arms into the State; and none were more urgent in this policy, or more anxious when the steamer arrived to hear how many passengers were for Nicaragua, than the Provisional President and the members of his cabinet. Internal order as well as freedom from foreign invasion depended, in their eyes, entirely on the rapid arrival of some hundreds of Americans.

It will thus appear that the agreement of Crittenden with Garrison was the means, and at that time, the only means, for carrying out the policy vital to the Rivas administration. True, neither the President nor the cabinet knew of the means whereby their objects were accomplished; and it was in fact highly necessary to the success of the measures that they should be known by as few persons as possible. After Randolph and Walker had agreed on the terms of a new transit grant, a copy was sent up to Garrison at San Francisco, Macdonald being the bearer of it. W. R. Garrison went to New-York for the purpose of informing Charles Morgan of the arrangements which had been, and were about to be made; while Randolph remained in Granada to await the return of these parties. Nothing was said to Rivas of the new transit contract, Walker and Randolph had drawn up and agreed to.

At length Macdonald arrived again from San Francisco, and W. R. Garrison from New-York, and it was decided that the blow should be struck. Randolph had been living at the house of Niña Yrena, and was in bad health; therefore Walker went to his room in order that they might draw up the decree of revocation. It was necessary, in an act of such importance, to state clearly and fully the causes for it, so that it might appear properly before the world. Hence the considerations of the decree were drawn with no common care. As the Accessory Transit Company held its charter for the sole purpose of facilitating the building of a ship canal, the destruction of the Canal Company implied the destruction of the Accessory Transit. Hence the decree recites the failure of the Ship Canal Company to perform its agreements. The company had agreed to contract a ship canal across Nicaragua, and it had not only failed to commence the work but had declared it impracticable; it had agreed to construct a railroad, or a rail and carriage road, in case the completion of the canal was not possible, and it had done neither one nor the other; it had agreed to pay the Republic annually ten thousand dollars, together with ten per cent. of the net profits on any route it might establish between the two oceans, and it had failed to pay these amounts, falsely and fraudulently alleging that no profits were made and no commissions due; and finally, it had been notified to appoint commissioners to settle the matter in dispute between the State and the company, and had expressly refused to comply with the demand. If failure to perform its obligations, coupled with falsehood and fraud in its dealings with the government, and accompanied by marked contempt of the sovereignty from which it derived its existence, were insufficient to warrant the revocation of the charter, there is small merit in law or its remedies.

At the same time the charters of the companies were revoked, three commissioners, D. Cleto Mayorga, E. J. C. Kewen, and George F. Alden, were appointed to ascertain the amount due from the Canal Company to the State; and for this purpose they were ordered by the decree to notify the agents of the companies to appear before them forthwith. They were also commanded to cause all the property of the companies to be seized and held by responsible persons, subject to the order of the Board. Ignorant and prejudiced people have said the property of the companies was confiscated; but this is untrue. The seizure was in the language of the civil law prevailing in Nicaragua, a provisional one for the purpose of securing the payment of the debt due from the company to the government. And, in order to preserve the property, it was in the meantime placed in the hands of persons giving the necessary bonds. Nor was the condition that the property be forthcoming when called for by the Board of Commissioners the sole agreement of the undertakers on the bond. In order that the transit of passengers might not be interrupted, they were required to transport the passengers who might arrive on the sides of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the expenses of such transportation to be charged against the companies.

After the decree of revocation was drawn up in English, Walker broached the subject to the Provisional President, and to D. Fermin Ferrer, then acting as Minister General; and neither of them made any objections to the measure. In fact, there was a general prejudice on the part of the Nicaraguans against the Accessory Transit Company, because of the arrogant tone it had used on all occasions toward the authorities of the Republic. As collector of customs at San Carlos, D. Patricio Rivas had frequent opportunities to observe the haughty and overbearing character of the company, and he was gratified at the proposal to take away its privileges. Accordingly, the decree was translated from English into Spanish by Walker, the minister correcting the language of the rough translation. The President signed the decree, not only without hesitation but with undisguised pleasure.

After the decree of revocation was signed, the decree for a new charter to Randolph and his associates was submitted to the President; but there was much difficulty in obtaining his approval of this act. Even at this time the mind of Rivas had been poisoned by evil-disposed persons; and in discussing with D. Fermin Ferrer the new contract, he said it was “a sale of the country,” meaning thereby that it placed the government entirely in the hands of the American element. In consequence of Don Patricio’s feelings, the translation of the decree for the new charter was so made as to deprive the grantees of many privileges they required; and it became necessary to have the first draught of the Spanish decree materially modified. With much difficulty the signature of Rivas was finally obtained to the decree for the new charter, and it bore date the 19th of February, 1856, the day after the date of the decree of revocation.

Although copies of the decrees had been signed and delivered to Randolph and his associates on the 18th, the publication was delayed until the day after the passengers from California crossed the Lake for San Juan del Norte. Thus Morgan and Garrison had news of the acts before they were known to the companies; and it was an object to give the former as much time as possible, to get ready for running their steamer before the old grantees stopped their line. The advantage of this course was shown some days afterward; for, on the steamer of the Accessory Transit Company which left New-Orleans on the 27th of February, more than two hundred and fifty passengers for the service of Nicaragua were carried to San Juan del Norte, their passages being paid with drafts of D. Domingo de Goicouria on Cornelius Vanderbilt, the president of the company. Had the decree of the 18th gone to New-Orleans before these passengers left—as it might have done if published a day earlier—they would certainly not have been carried to Nicaragua at the expense of Mr. Vanderbilt or of the company. As it was, the price of these passages was so much secured by the State on the indebtedness due from the corporation.

The necessity for the American element to predominate in the government of Nicaragua sprang from the clauses in the treaty of peace. In order to carry out the spirit of that treaty—to secure to the Americans in the service of the Republic the rights guaranteed to them by the full sovereign power of the State—it was requisite to get into the country a force capable of protecting it, not only from domestic but from foreign enemies. Hence the “sale of the country,” in Rivas’ use of the term, was a foregone conclusion after the 23d of October. Walker had sworn to have the treaty observed in all respects. He was responsible before Nicaragua and before the world for the faithful execution of it, and above all he was bound to the Americans on the Isthmus to gain for them the strength requisite for the maintenance of their privileges. And for this object it was of the first importance to place the Transit in the hands of those pledged by every consideration of interest to secure the permanence of the new order of things. The old Transit Company aimed at being master of the government; the new charter made the owners of the grant the servants of the State and the agents of its policy. The control of the Transit is, to Americans, the control of Nicaragua: for the lake, not the river as many think, furnishes the key to the occupation of the whole State. Therefore, whoever desires to hold Nicaragua securely, must be careful that the navigation of the lake is controlled by those who are his stanchest and most reliable friends.

The commissioners proceeded, under the decree, to seize the property of the companies, and place it in the keeping of Joseph N. Scott, after he had given a full and satisfactory bond. The subsequent proceedings of the commissioners, and the conduct of the grantees under the new charter, will be hereafter related. In this connection the main object is to show how the policy of Rivas toward the Accessory Transit Company was, as it were, the keystone of the arch supporting his administration. With a different policy the Provisional President would have found himself with a very small force to oppose the combination which threatened him almost from the day he was inaugurated.

Under the influence of these measures of the government, the number of Americans had been rapidly increasing since the first of November, 1855. Mr. Fabens, who was in Granada at the time Walker entered the city, went, soon after the treaty was signed, to San Juan del Norte, and induced many of the Americans with Kinney to join the army of Nicaragua. On the 7th of November Capt. R. W. Armstrong, with a company from San Francisco, arrived at Granada, and thus the American force was swelled to upward of two hundred men. After this, until the arrival of Capt. Anderson on the 17th of December, the increase was by small numbers at a time, and in the meanwhile the cholera had appeared at Granada. The disease seemed to select those officers who were most capable and useful, and there were suspicions that the people of the town, mostly Legitimists, were not entirely ignorant of the cause which produced the deaths of leading Americans. Among the first victims of the disease were Capt. Davidson and Col. Gilman; and the death of the latter was a severe loss. Then Capt. Armstrong and Major Jesse Hambleton passed away. The deaths finally became daily, and the frequent sound of the dead march, as the funeral escorts passed through the streets, began to exercise a depressing effect on the troops. The surgical staff was inexperienced, and the services of some volunteers were valuable. Dr. James Nott was the most efficient of these, and many a Nicaraguan, who owed his life to this surgeon’s kind and skilful attention, regretted his departure and mourned his death, which occurred on the passage from San Juan del Norte to New-Orleans. It was only after the arrival of Dr. Israel Moses, early in February, 1856, that the surgical staff was well organized and its duties well performed. He gave such order and system to this department of the army that the good effects of his administration were felt long after he ceased to act as surgeon-general. Indeed, it is safe to say that after the appointment of Dr. Moses few military hospitals were better administered than the hospitals at Granada and Rivas.

In spite, however, of the fearful ravages of disease, the number of Americans continued to increase, most of the immigrants coming from California until the month of March, 1856. A few, during January and February, had come from New-York and New-Orleans, but it was not until Goicouria arrived, early in March, that any numbers were received from the Atlantic side. So successful had been the policy of the Rivas administration for the introduction of the new element, that on the 1st of March, 1856, there were upward of twelve hundred Americans, soldiers and citizens, in the Republic, capable of bearing arms. It remains, now, for us to see what effect this domestic policy of the Provisional Government had produced in its foreign relations.

Immediately on the organization of the Rivas Government, the Minister of Relations, Jerez, sent circulars to the several States of Central America, announcing the terms of the treaty of the 23d of October, and expressing friendly feeling for the respective governments to which the circulars were addressed. The State of San Salvador gave an early reply, declaring the gratification of that cabinet in the peace secured to Nicaragua. No replies were received from the other States, and the silence was expressive. It was clear that the clauses in the treaty which secured and encouraged the presence of the Americans in Nicaragua were not acceptable to the neighboring Republics, and the journals of Costa Rica were particularly virulent in their remarks on the course of events in Granada. Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica, were at that time governed by the adherents of the old servile or aristocratic party, while San Salvador was under liberal influences. Gen. Cabañas, driven from Comayagua by the assistance of Guatemala, had found refuge at the mines of Los Encuentros, near the borders of Honduras and San Salvador, and Guardiola was canvassing for the Presidency of the former State, in place of his exiled rival, whose legal term was to expire on the 31st of January, 1856.

General Trinidad Cabañas was the oldest and most respected among the Liberals of Central America. He had been the faithful companion of Morazan in his efforts to preserve the Confederacy, and although generally unfortunate as a soldier, none doubted his courage or his devotion to the principles he professed. Americans who had met him pronounced him the most honest public man within the limits of the five Republics, and his conduct toward the Nicaraguan Democrats had certainly been that of a self-sacrificing man. The aid he gave to Castellon was undoubtedly the cause of his losing power in Honduras, and Walker was easily induced, after the news of the retirement of Cabañas to San Salvador arrived at Granada, to invite the ex-President to visit the capital of Nicaragua.

Cabañas arrived at Leon in the latter part of November, and when it was known that he was on his way to Granada, Col. Hornsby was ordered to Managua to conduct the ex-President to the capital. On the 3d of December he was received by Walker with every mark of respect, and he was entertained as the guest of the State. A guard of honor was placed at his orders, and the attention due a good man in fallen fortunes was scrupulously bestowed. But the Honduranian desired assistance to regain his power in his own State; he asked that a body of Americans might be given him to re-enter the capital from which he had not long been expelled. Jerez urged that the request of Cabañas be granted; he recalled the signal services the ex-President had rendered Castellon and the democratic army. Rivas, however, was not disposed to hearken to the prayers of Cabañas. He saw clearly that if assistance were given to the exiled General-President and an American force entered Honduras, it would be the signal for a coalition of the other four States against Nicaragua.

Walker regarded the plans of Cabañas with the same eye as Rivas. It was easy to perceive that sooner or later there was to be a struggle of force between the American policy of the Nicaraguan cabinet and the other governments by which it was surrounded. But it was expedient and proper to make the enemies of the Americans strike the first blow. To have sent troops to Honduras, even with the design of reëstablishing Cabañas, would have afforded a pretext for the declaration that the Americans of Nicaragua were aggressive in their nature. It was only necessary for the Americans to wait in order to have their enemies move, and it would have been unwise to hasten the struggle by seeking to restore a man, however worthy, who had just been driven from his own State.

Jerez admitted the reasonableness of the views of Rivas, yet he continued to insist on the aid Cabañas sought. The ex-President was a man of narrow mind, strong prejudices, and bitter animosities, and seemed to have his heart set on getting back to Honduras before the 31st of January. The very obstinacy with which he asked to be restored before the expiration of his time, was a proof of the tendency of his mind to dwell on unimportant points. Incapable of looking at the affairs of Central America with general views, he seemed a Morazan federalist dwindled by age to a Honduras official. But as his opinions had been contracted with time they had hardened also, and with the dull perceptions of age he had its obstinacy and its hatred of new things. Not understanding the American movement, he was disposed to regard it as an evil unless it could be converted to an agency for driving Guardiola and Lopez out of Honduras. The past reputation of Cabañas, however, his long service in the ranks of the Liberal party, together with the feeling of gratitude for the treatment the Nicaraguan Democrats received in Honduras, wrought on the mind of Jerez. The Minister of Relations was readily moved by generous sentiments, and it was not difficult to lead him on a false course through his emotions. His head, too, as one of his friends often said, was filled with the legends Plutarch has palmed off on the world as the lives of his Greek and Roman heroes; and Jerez was constantly imagining somebody was plotting against the Republic, and that it was his function to save the State. Vega, one of the leading Legitimists, soon after the organization of the Rivas cabinet, sent to Walker a printed paper, on the margin of which there was a sketch of all the ministers, and the shrewd old Granadino described Jerez as a conspirator by nature. It may be readily imagined how Cabañas would act on Jerez after he saw that Walker was determined not to send any of the Americans to Honduras.

After a sojourn of some twenty days at Granada, the ex-President went to Leon accompanied by the minister, Jerez. He would wait at Leon, he said, the final decision of the government in regard to his requests. When Jerez returned, the mind of Rivas was fixed in opposition to the propositions of Cabañas, and then Jerez resigned his place in the ministry. About the same time, D. Buenaventura Selva resigned the ministry of war, because a Legitimist, Arguëllo, was put in office. Jerez retired to Leon; Selva went first to Rivas and San Juan del Sur, whence he sailed for San Salvador to remain, as he said, until “hombres de bien” were restored to power in Nicaragua. As many Legitimists had been put in office by Rivas before the appointment of Arguëllo, it was probably the private enmity of Selva toward the latter which led to his resignation; and thus, by the friendship of one Minister for Cabañas, and the hatred of another toward Arguëllo, Ferrer was, for a time, sole minister.

It was not enough, however, that Nicaragua showed, by her course toward Honduras, the policy she sought to follow in relation to Central America. On the 12th of January, 1856, a circular was addressed to the several Republics, declaring the peaceful intentions of Nicaragua, and requesting the appointment of commissioners to discuss and arrange the terms of a union of the separate States. The latter proposition was made because the old serviles, who had always been against Federalism, were now zealously discussing a union, for the purpose of affording pretexts to interfere against the Americans of Nicaragua. It was thus made manifest that the Rivas government, satisfied of the honor and straightforwardness of its intentions, was not afraid of placing itself in closer relations with the other States of the old confederation.

The only response given to this circular was that of the Honduras commissioner, D. Manuel Colindres, who did not get beyond Leon. He had been sent by the government of Honduras to assure Nicaragua of its peaceful purposes; though it is possible his secret design may have been to watch the movements of Cabañas. On the 24th of January, however, Señor Colindres, in acknowledging the receipt of a printed copy of the circular, said he had no doubt his government would reply favorably to that of Nicaragua. But no such answer as the commissioner anticipated was ever received. After Guardiola, however, was elected President of Honduras, he showed little disposition to interfere with the domestic policy of Nicaragua; and the thirst for war his enemies attributed to him was not manifested in his course toward the Central American coalition.

The most violent invectives against the domestic policy of Nicaragua had been published in the official journal of Costa Rica. Besides this, a large number of the Legitimists had fled to Guanacaste, and were thence threatening the tranquillity of the Meridional Department. To remonstrate against the presence of the Legitimists on the frontier, and at the same time to endeavor to correct some of the errors which had spread in Costa Rica, it was decided to send a commissioner to that Republic. Accordingly, on the 4th of February, Louis Schlessinger and Manual Arguëllo, accompanied by Captain W. A. Sutter, left Granada for Virgin Bay, with instructions to proceed to San José. Schlessinger had been selected because he was one of the few among those attached to the American force possessed of any knowledge of Spanish; nor were his previous career and character as well known then as afterward. In fact, he had come to Nicaragua with excellent recommendations from people of repute; and as he had some tact and address, it was thought he might accomplish some of the objects of the commission. D. Manuel Arguëllo was joined with Schlessinger because, being a Legitimist, he might remove prejudices, and probably induce many of his old party to leave Guanacaste and return to their homes and estates near Rivas.

D. Rafael Mora, however, had made up his mind to act at once against Nicaragua. Schlessinger and Sutter were, therefore, ordered out of the Republic; and Arguëllo remained in Costa Rica only to join its army. On the 1st of March, 1856, President Mora formally declared war against the “filibusters,” as he styled the Americans of Nicaragua. And in order to trace some of the causes which led to this step, it is necessary to examine events outside of Central America. This brings us to the course the United States and Great Britain pursued in reference to Nicaragua.

Not long after the recognition of the Rivas government by the American Minister at Granada, French was sent as minister from Nicaragua to the United States. He was appointed to that office with a view of getting him out of the Hacienda Department and out of the country. He was utterly unfitted for the administration of the hacienda, having little knowledge of either the principles or details of public business, and not having either the modesty to be sensible of his defects or the patience to overcome them. Moreover, his rapacity made him dreaded by the people of the country, and, as a measure of policy, it was necessary for the Americans to get rid of him. He was, however, of not less character than Marcoleta, a Spaniard, who at the time represented Nicaragua at Washington; for French had not been ordered out of the State Department for pilfering papers from its archives. On his arrival in the United States it was generally reported that the federal government would not receive the new minister because of his previous history. After waiting for some time French presented his credentials and was refused recognition because it was impossible for the American Secretary of State, Mr. Marcy, to determine whether or not the government he represented was the government of the people of Nicaragua. When it is remembered that Mr. Marcy, in a conversation with Mr. J. W. Fabens, placed Nicaragua among the South American Republics, his inability to decide whether the government of Rivas was in existence or not, need create little surprise. His entire ignorance or wilful misrepresentation of Nicaraguan affairs appears to much advantage in his correspondence with Mr. Wheeler.

From the beginning of the movement Mr. Marcy had set his face against the introduction of Americans into Nicaragua. In one of his first despatches on the subject he spoke of the entrance of Americans into the country as an invasion, and with him the establishment of peace and the provisional government of Rivas was “a successful foray of arms.” He censured Mr. Wheeler for his visit to Rivas at the instance of the people of Granada, and intimated that the danger he incurred was the due reward of the minister’s efforts to act as mediator between the parties. Hence, it is an error to suppose that the refusal to receive French was owing in any manner to the character of that person. Nor is it more correct to assign the interest certain parties near the President had in the Shepard and Haley grant and in Kinney’s schemes, as the reason for the action of the Secretary of State. At that time it was scarcely known what policy the Rivas administration would pursue in reference to the claims on the Mosquito shore. The causes for Mr. Marcy’s conduct were far deeper than such as were suggested at the time, and they will probably be seen more clearly in the sequel.

The refusal of the United States government to recognize the Rivas administration created great surprise in Nicaragua, and encouraged the enemies of the Americans in Costa Rica. The public men of Nicaragua, ignorant of the internal machinery of the federal government at Washington, and of the secret springs controlling the actions of parties in the United States, were unable to divine the motives of the cabinet of Mr. Pierce. It was an enigma they could not solve; and while some of the native Nicaraguans attributed the course of the Republic of the north to fear of England, others resorted to the common ground on which political action is always put when it cannot be otherwise reasonably explained, and traced the conduct of the federal cabinet, and more particularly of the Secretary of State, to personal prejudices and passions. All the Nicaraguans saw, however, the effect of the Marcy policy on the neighboring States; for while it furnished them with an excuse for withholding diplomatic intercourse it also encouraged them to take active and decided measures against the Rivas government.

But while the policy of the United States appeared inexplicable to the people of Central America, that of the British government excited no surprise. From long familiarity with British diplomacy the Spanish-American States are generally able to divine what its course will be, though they scarcely take the trouble to analyze its motives or to arrive at the objects of its policy. Before examining, however, the course of the British cabinet toward the Rivas administration, it may aid us to ascertain, if we can, the motives of English policy in reference to all the Spanish American States. There is a unity in this policy which must spring from a simple motive.

The English policy is as old as the time of Elizabeth, and sprang immediately from the contests of that sovereign with Philip the Second. The privateers, in the habit of plundering the towns of the Spanish main, were the first fruits of the policy. England, shut out from a large portion of America by the jealous colonial regulations of Spain, sought to make profit out of these countries by the double means of buccaneering and of contraband trade. This system continued during the whole time of the Spanish dominion on the continent; and traces of it yet remain in the settlements at Balize—named after the freebooter and smuggler Wallis—and in the relations of England to the Indians on the Mosquito shore. The object of the policy was not to acquire colonies, but to acquire trade; hence the wood-cutters at Balize were not colonists, but mere floating settlers, with a right to cut mahogany and dye-woods, yet without the right to organize for themselves a society or a government. And in the same manner it was sought to raise the roving tribes of the Mosquito shore into a community claiming, as did the wood-choppers at Balize, the protection of the British crown. The settlers at Balize, and the Indians and Zambos of the Mosquito shore, might be called, in one of the elegant cant phrases of the day, “squatter sovereigns.”

When the Spanish colonies declared their independence, the relations between Spain and England were vastly different from what they had been in the time of Elizabeth; and the Peninsula, just emerging from the struggle with Napoleon, supposed her alliance with Great Britain would secure the neutrality of her old rival in the contest between herself and her rebellious subjects. But England, true to her traditional policy, favored by all possible means the independence of the colonies. British arms, British soldiers, and British counsels, were freely furnished to several Spanish-American States, and their independence was speedily acknowledged by the British crown. Then British merchants flocked to the new fields opened to their enterprise, and organized everywhere the old system of the buccaneers and smugglers. They found the new governments fit tools of their system. Open and general bribery of custom-house officers supplanted, it is true, the plain and less corrupt smuggling of former times, and British men-of-war, sent to collect British claims for advances made to revolutionary governments at most usurious rates, took the place of the old buccaneers; but in reality the substance of things was the same as before.

By this system England derives from the Spanish-American States all the advantages of trade she receives from her colonies; and yet she has not the expense or the trouble of governing them. And it is her interest to keep them in this condition. Now they furnish her with an excellent market for her fabrics; and, through her merchants, scattered over the central and southern portions of the continent, she manages to control the distribution of the products of these countries. Thus her shipping is swelled, her sailors educated, and an opportunity is offered for scattering her men-of-war like sentries along the coasts of both oceans, from Mexico to Patagonia. Her aim is to maintain the status quô, for she could scarcely hope to better herself by any change that might be attempted.

The British consul at Realejo, Thomas Manning, was a type of the class of English merchants in the Spanish-American States. Arriving in Nicaragua without means—a sailor, it is said, on a merchant vessel—he had married a woman of the country, and soon built the foundations of a fortune. Without any education, or any habit of regarding political events in the light of principle or of fixed policy, he yet had that keen instinct for property and his own interests which enabled him to use British power to aid his trading adventures. He sometimes lent money to the Republic, only, however, when it was in great straits and promised extravagant interest; and when the principal and interest had accumulated to a suitable sum, he would call on the British fleet to blockade the ports of the States until the debt was paid. As early as 1849, Manning had foreseen the danger of Americans passing in numbers through Nicaragua; and while the Californians were crossing the Isthmus, on their way to and from the land of gold, he had written to Lord Palmerston that unless England averted the calamity, in ten years the country would be “overrun by North American adventurers.” It is wise for England to make her merchants consuls, and to intrust them somewhat with diplomatic business; the sting of self-interest keeps the sentry from sleeping on his post.

Manning had houses both at Leon and at Chinandega, and his commercial and social relations were mainly with the residents of the Occidental Department. Hence, in the revolution of 1854, he naturally favored Castellon and his adherents, though his notions about government, if he could be said to have any, inclined him more toward the Legitimists. Besides, however, his personal relations with some of the leading Democrats, the all-subduing sense of interest led him with the Leoneses. The rivalry between the towns of Leon and Granada was a rivalry of trade and of interests as well as of social and political power. True, the political principles prevalent at Granada naturally led to high tariffs, while those of Leon tended to free trade; but the geographical position of the two towns did most to beget the commercial contest between them. Granada received its goods from the Atlantic, by the way of the lake and San Juan river, while Leon was supplied from vessels obliged to pass Cape Horn. It was difficult, however, to carry on smuggling by the river, while the facilities for contraband on the Pacific side were great. Thus Leon was able to compete with Granada by making up in smuggling what she lost by the voyage round the Horn. It may thus be readily conceived how the British consul’s interests induced him to wish for the success of the Leoneses, not only in the Occidental Department but throughout the State. Their success would necessarily aggrandize Leon and depress the trade of Granada.

Of course Manning’s relations with the Castellon government were intimate, and especially with the Minister of Hacienda, D. Pablo Caravajal. It was through the officers of the hacienda that all arrangements had to be made for landing goods at Realejo; and the interests of the minister might sometimes be opposed to the interests of the government he served. So, too, it was with the hacienda Don Tomas—as the people called Manning—treated, when he was so kind as to advance a little money at the rate of one and a half or two per cent. a month. And as Caravajal was the minister who countersigned the first contract of Castellon with Cole, and none besides himself and the director knew its character, he was probably obliging enough to drop a copy of it where Don Tomas might find it. At any rate Manning heard of the Cole contract soon after it was made, and he immediately remonstrated with Castellon as to the policy he was pursuing. The director, however, had been in England to negotiate on the part of Nicaragua concerning the Mosquito coast, and was sagacious enough to perceive the drift of British policy and the subjection in which it sought to retain his country. The remonstrances of Manning were, therefore, of little avail.

It is then probable that the British cabinet was, from the beginning, well informed as to the American movement in Nicaragua. While the government of the United States had merely newspaper reports of events in Nicaragua, previous to the surprise of Granada, Lord Clarendon was undoubtedly receiving minute and detailed statements from official sources. Hence, when we can get at the facts, it is not strange to see that Lord Clarendon is deeply interested in the events of Central America, and that, by act as well as words, he is urging Costa Rica to make war on the Americans in Nicaragua.

The sources of information on this subject are exclusively Costa Rican, and the only published facts are those contained in certain letters taken from the English mail for San José, in the month of March, 1856. Among this intercepted correspondence was the copy of a note from the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr. E. Hammond, to E. Wallerstein, consul-general for Costa Rica at London. The note is dated from the Foreign Office, February 9th, 1856, and acquaints the consul-general that Lord Clarendon has been informed by the War Department “two thousand smooth bore muskets (Witton’s), which are not so highly finished as the Line pattern muskets of 1842, can be supplied” to the government of Costa Rica, “at £1, 3s. each; or, if it should be preferred, two thousand of the Line pattern muskets of 1842 can be furnished at 56s. 8d. each.” Then a letter from Wallerstein to D. Bernardo Calvo, Minister of Relations for Costa Rica, advising him of the offer of Lord Clarendon, says: “I have written a private letter to the secretary, entreating him to send me an order to examine the two kinds. After seeing them I will still consider if it is proper to take the muskets without positive instructions from his Excellency, the President; but, in the meantime, I am persuaded his Excellency will see, in the promptness with which H. B. M.’s government has complied with my request, a strong proof of its sympathy and good will toward the Republic. Nothing is said, it is true, about the time the money should be paid; this shows it is for your government to decide that point.” And while writing officially to his chief in the cabinet, Mr. Wallerstein does not forget to send a private letter for his esteemed friend, D. Juan Rafael Mora. After telling the President, “The pleasure I felt was such, on receipt of Mr. Hammond’s letters, I could not sleep at all that night;” the complacent consul-general goes on: “I have letters from Guatemala and San Salvador, requiring me to request from this government help and succor; but what can be done for republics or people who cannot help themselves? When I was telling Lord Clarendon Costa Rica had already an army of eight hundred men on the frontiers, he was much pleased, and said that was a right step; and I am persuaded my having made that intimation is the reason for their giving us the muskets.”

Through these letters we can perceive the prudence and yet the decision with which the British cabinet acted in reference to the Rivas administration. There is no doubt or hesitation in its conduct, because it acts in accordance with a traditional policy. England does not desire firm and steady government in Central America, because her merchants would thus be restricted to the common profits of legitimate trade; and she is, above all, opposed to the establishment of such governments there by American influences, for fear other goods than her own would be thrown into the markets of those countries.

Urged on, therefore, by Great Britain, tacitly encouraged by the United States, Costa Rica declared war against the Americans in the service of Nicaragua. Mora is careful to make the issue clearly and distinctly. He does not declare war against the Republic of Nicaragua, but against certain persons in her service. And as the manner in which the war is declared defies the restraints of public law, so the way in which it is to be waged points not to the rules adopted by Christian nations. The same day war was declared, a decree was published ordering all prisoners taken with arms in their hands to be shot. Yet there have been found Christian people unblushing enough to praise the conduct and the policy of Juan Rafael Mora. And in the blindness of party passion Americans have not been ashamed to support the man who distinctly enounced the principle that they were to be excluded from Central America, and if venturing there against his will, they should be shot.

On whom, then, rests the responsibility of the war which for more than a year drained the resources of Nicaragua and made her fields the scenes of deadly conflict rather than of abundant harvests? Not surely on those who exhausted every effort in order to maintain peace and bring about a diplomatic discussion rather than armed arbitrament of the questions at issue. Costa Rica scorned to discuss the right of Nicaragua to employ Americans in her military service. Mora refused to listen to the voice of reason, and defiantly seizing the clarion, blew the note of war. If it is permitted, however, to anticipate events not yet narrated—if we may “see the future in the instant,” in order to gather therefrom a lesson of justice and of right—it may not be inappropriate to say that Costa Rica has derived nothing from the war except a scarcity of labor for her fields, a heavy debt to embarrass her treasury, and the prospect of civil commotions to disturb her industry. Mora, too, reaps in exile the fruits of his policy; but let us pass Mora in exile, as Ugolino in hell, afar off and with silence.