The war in Nicaragua

One of the avowed objects of Jerez in desiring the Provisional President to remove to Leon was to establish friendly relations with the states to the north and particularly with San Salvador. Accordingly, even before the departure of Rivas from Granada, commissioners were sent to Cojutepeque for the purpose of explaining to the cabinet of San Salvador the actual condition of affairs in Nicaragua. But the commissioners met with a cold reception; and on the 7th of May the government of San Salvador sent a communication to the Provisional President declaring that the presence of the Americans in Nicaragua threatened the independence of Central America. The tone of the communication was so insulting that D. Patricio Rivas refused to make any reply. After, however, the retreat of the Costa Ricans from Rivas was known at Cojutepeque the news from San Salvador became more pacific; but soon came news that Guatemala was preparing troops to march against Nicaragua. So frequent and so circumstantial did these reports become, that on the 3d of June Rivas published a proclamation to the people declaring that the troops of Carrera were marching against the State, and calling on all to take up arms for the Republic.

On the 31st of May, Walker, accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson in command of two hundred Rifles, and by Captain Waters with two companies of Rangers, left Granada for Leon; and Gen. Goicouria, who fancied he understood native character because he spoke Spanish, joined the general-in-chief in the excursion to the north. Not far from Masaya the party was met by D. Mariano Salazar, who came to inform Walker of the authenticity of the reports from Guatemala and of the necessity for a portion of the American force to protect the northern frontier. Salazar represented that the people of the Occidental Department were bitter in their hostility to the troops of Carrera and might be depended on for resisting their entrance into the State; but as the Guatemalan force was said to be large and well organized, it was necessary to have some of the Rifles at Leon ready to meet it.

Walker arrived at Leon on the 4th of June, and was received in the most enthusiastic manner. At the entrance to the town, he was met by all the dignitaries of the government and of the department. The streets through which he passed were filled with crowds of the people, shouting a welcome to their deliverers, as they styled the Americans; and the doors and windows of the houses were thronged with women dressed in all the colors of the rainbow. A feast had been prepared for the occasion; but before taking his seat at table the general-in-chief was called to the court-yard of the house where he was quartered, and there had gathered the women of every age and every condition to thank him for the protection the Americans had given to their homes. In the evening the musicians came to sing songs in praise of American valor, and the local rhymsters of the place—of whom there were not a few—poured forth the sonorous sounds of Castilian verse in glory of the strangers who had delivered Nicaragua from the oppressions of her enemies. All seemed to vie with each other in their demonstrations of respect and good-will toward the Rifles and Rangers.

But in the midst of the general joy, it was easy to see that some of those connected with the government were not well pleased at the enthusiasm shown by the people. The face of Jerez had a cloud over it, and he appeared anxious and nervous; nor did Rivas seem as much at ease in the presence of Walker as he had formerly been. The threatening attitude of San Salvador and the rumored march of the troops of Carrera alarmed the Provisional President, and it was evident that Jerez did not strive to diminish the apprehensions of Rivas. Soon after Walker reached Leon the President told him the cabinet of Cojutepeque had proposed the reduction of the American force in the service of Nicaragua to two hundred men, and had intimated that if the proposal were accepted relations would be established with the provisional government. The manner in which Rivas spoke of the proposal indicated that he was not averse to the plan, but the reply of Walker that such a proposition could be entertained only when the State was ready to pay the men it discharged, showed the President he need not expect the general-in-chief to co-operate in the policy suggested by San Salvador.

During the month of April an election had been called for president as well as for senators and representatives. An election had taken place at different times during the month of May, in several of the districts of the State, but the irregularity in the voting had been such and the condition of the Republic was so disturbed that all parties considered the election as invalid. Little or no attention was paid to it, and as quiet now prevailed throughout the State, the propriety of a decree for a new election was being discussed at the time Walker left Granada for Leon. The votes polled in May were mostly in the Occidental Department, and were divided between Jerez, Rivas, and Salazar. The Granadinos, alarmed at this and fearful that the seat of government might be permanently fixed at Leon, were speaking of Walker as the fit person for the presidency, while the Republic was threatened with invasion by the adjacent States. When the general-in-chief reached Leon the question of calling an election was also discussed there, and he was surprised to find the President and Jerez, who had a few weeks before insisted on an election, now hostile to the measure. The only minister who seemed at all friendly to the proposition for a new election was D. Sebastian Salinas, then holding the portfolio of Relations. Walker urged the President to call the election, for he saw that Don Patricio was frightened by appearances in the north, and could not be relied on to face the coalition preparing against Nicaragua, and he thought it prudent to have the election called while the State was comparatively quiet and before it was more seriously menaced.

While this decree was being discussed news reached Leon of the reception of Father Vigil by the United States government as Minister from Nicaragua. At the same time the arrival of Col. Jaquess at Granada with about one hundred and eighty men, was announced. Hereafter it may be necessary to examine the manner of Vigil’s reception and the causes which led to it; at present the fact is merely stated in order to show the effect it had on the deliberations at Leon. Of course it strengthened the American influence in Nicaragua, and while it tended to make the prospect of hostilities from San Salvador more remote, it gave an additional reason for fixing the government on affirm basis by an appeal to the popular will; attended, too, by an addition to the numbers of the Americans, it made the friends of the election stronger than before.

Several circumstances, in the meanwhile, occurred to show the disaffection of many of the principal men toward the Americans. D. Mariano Salazar, as Walker ascertained after reaching Leon, had made a sale of some brazil-wood he owned to the government, on terms advantageous to himself, and tending to diminish the receipts of the customs at Realejo. In the actual condition of affairs it was necessary for the State to get every cent of revenue possible; and hence it was reprehensible for a friend of the government, and especially for a military officer, to speculate on the necessities of the Republic. Under the army regulations derived from the old Spanish service, it was not permitted for an officer to contract with the State, unless with the permission of the general-in-chief. Hence Walker, to rebuke the act of Salazar, put him under arrest, and kept him in his house for some hours. Several of the leading persons of the city came to intercede for Salazar during his short arrest, and endeavored to excuse his act as not unusual in the country; and it was easy to see that they were not at all favorable to an authority which aimed to protect the State from contractors and speculators.

The Sunday after reaching Leon, Goicouria proposed to call together the chief persons of the city and converse freely with them about the state of affairs. He constantly labored under the delusion that he knew the natives, whereas he always under-estimated the capacity of the leaders and the virtues of the people. But he got a number of the prominent politicians together, and gave them a rambling discourse on his ideas—most crude they were—of re-organizing the country. He touched on the ecclesiastical authority, and suggested an application to the Pope for the appointment of a Bishop who might be free from the metropolitan of Guatemala. The suggestion was innocent enough in itself, but D. José Guerrero, a wily intriguer who once, while Director, had got up a revolution against his own government as an excuse for prolonging his authority, distorted Goicouria’s suggestion into such a shape that it was soon reported through the city the Americans aimed to draw Nicaragua from the jurisdiction of the Roman See. Goicouria expected to influence the ambition of the higher clergy, by placing before them visions of the mitre and the crosier, but a more dexterous politician than himself managed to turn his suggestion to his own disadvantage. The fact is, the natives disliked Goicouria because they took him for a Spaniard, and the Nicaraguans hate the Spaniards more than they do any other foreigners. Of course the general-in-chief knew nothing of Goicouria’s suggestion until after it was made; his policy had always been to leave the church entirely to the management of its own affairs. But it was easy for the disaffected to make Goicouria’s speech appear the inspiration of his commanding officer; and the reports circulated about this silly meeting showed Walker that there were many in Leon desirous of exciting popular passions and prejudices against the Americans. Those, too, whose loyalty to the Americans was beyond doubt, were every day telling the general-in-chief that certain agencies were at work to destroy the confidence of the people in the naturalized Nicaraguans. Valle, who was rather superciliously treated by the educated leaders, because he could not read or write, insisted that no faith was to be put in the friendly professions of many who owed power to the will of the general-in-chief. D. Nasario Escoto, also, who had succeeded Castellon in the provisional government, previous to the treaty of peace, said no reliance should be placed on the firmness of the persons then directing the government. In fact, all things tended to show that, in case Nicaragua were invaded by San Salvador and Guatemala, the Americans might find the machinery of the government they had created and sustained turned against themselves. Hence, unless disposed to carry off Rivas as a prisoner—and thereby the whole moral force of his government would have been lost—it was necessary for the welfare of the Americans that a new election should be called.

Finally, after much deliberation, the decree calling an immediate election was drawn up in full cabinet session, and was signed on Tuesday the 10th of June. Walker proposed to leave for Granada early on the morning of the 11th. The evening before his departure he was visited several times by Jerez, who had an anxious and nervous manner not unusual with him. Three or four times he called in the course of as many hours; and there was much conversation between him and the general-in-chief relative to another minister to the United States, as it was thought Father Vigil would prefer returning to Nicaragua. Jerez himself had been spoken of for the place, and Walker mentioned to him that if he desired it the appointment might be urged on Don Patricio. Afterward the minister remarked, “My visit to the United States is then decided on;” but in such a tone as intimated it might be an excuse to get rid of him. The immediate reply was, his appointment should be pressed only in case he desired it. This incident serves to show the temper of Jerez, and points out the influences which wrought on the pliable mind of Rivas.

Early on the morning of the 11th Walker left Leon escorted by the Rangers and leaving Anderson’s Rifles with Col. Natzmer in the city. The President and many others of the chief citizens of the department accompanied him several miles on his journey; and at parting Don Patricio affectionately embraced the general-in-chief, remarking with moist eyes that he might be depended on in every emergency. Salazar, in spite of the arrest, was also of the party; but Jerez was absent. All cordially saluted the general; and the latter proceeded to Managua where he remained over night, and the next day arrived at Masaya early in the afternoon.

Walker had not been many hours at Masaya before he received letters from Col. Natzmer relating strange events at Leon. On the morning of the 12th the military governor of the department, Escobar, had asked a detail of Americans to guard the Principal—a strong building on the Plaza where the arms and ammunition were stored—and no sooner was the sentry from the Rifles posted than a singular movement was perceptible in the town. The President and the Ministers hastily left the government house near the Principal, and Mariano Salazar on horseback rode through the streets, proclaiming that the Americans were about to make Rivas prisoner and to assassinate the Ministers and chief men of the city. The excitement soon became intense; the barriers of San Felipe, one of the most turbulent quarters of the town, began to send forth its unquiet residents, some of them armed and all endeavoring to increase the popular ferment. Then it was reported Rivas had left the city; and the women, regarding the movement as a revolution and the signal of war, commenced packing their trunks and closing their doors and windows. Natzmer, seeing the threatening aspect of the men at the barriers, called the Americans to the Plaza and placing them under arms, prepared for defence.

At once a courier was despatched to Chinandega with orders for Lieut. Dolan—who was there with a company of Rifles—to march immediately for Leon. Dolan was but a short distance on his march, when he met Rivas and Jerez riding toward Chinandega. The singularity of the fact made him suspect something was wrong, and he thought of arresting them on their way; but the surgeon with him, Dr. Dawson, who had lived for many years in Nicaragua, suggested that it would not be proper for a simple lieutenant to arrest the President and one of his Ministers. Dolan, therefore, marched on without molesting them, and soon joined Anderson in the Plaza.

As soon as these tidings reached Walker, he ordered Col. Jaquess, then in Masaya with his command, to prepare for a march; and Jaquess with the Rangers was in a short time on the road to Managua. Couriers met Walker every few hours on his way toward Leon; and when near Nagarote he was met by Ferdinand Schlessinger—a man to whom Rivas had given a commission to fortify the harbor of Realejo. Schlessinger told the general-in-chief, that Rivas and Jerez were at Chinandega, barricading the town, and pressing natives into military service; also, that they had given him orders to stop the works at Point Ycaco, and in consequence of his suspicions he had made good his escape. At the same time, letters from Natzmer informed Walker that Jerez, as Minister of War, had issued orders to him to disoccupy the towers of the cathedral, where riflemen had been placed, in order that troops of the country might be stationed there. Natzmer forwarded the order to Walker, awaiting his instructions on the subject.

As soon as Natzmer’s letter reached Walker, he sent the order to obey the command of Jerez, and to withdraw the whole American force from Leon to Nagarote. The designs of Rivas and Jerez were now apparent to everybody; and they had, on their arrival at Chinandega, gone so far as to send a commissioner to invite the troops of Carrera into the State, and to urge their immediate approach to Leon. Jerez had given the order to Natzmer, supposing it would not be obeyed, thereby hoping to make the movement against the Americans turn on their disobedience to a lawful authority. But Walker was not disposed to have the coming struggle occur on any such issue. He determined to have the contest made on more formal grounds. Not knowing, either, how far the defection of the native leaders had spread, he was anxious to concentrate his force scattered on a long line from Leon to Castillo; therefore military no less than political reasons led him to await with Jaquess at Nagarote the arrival of Natzmer and Anderson, and then to march with the united force toward Granada.

A number of the native residents about Leon and some families accompanied the Rifles to Nagarote, and among them were D. José Maria Valle and D. Mateo Pineda. The latter was a man of rare truth and fidelity for a Central American—in fact, his virtues would make him remarkable in any country. With a name so pure that it has escaped the malice of his enemies during all the civil disturbances of Nicaragua, he stands almost a solitary example, in that distracted land, of spotless faith and unshaken loyalty. He has required no defence save his high honor and stainless character to protect him from the persecutions of political enemies; and if other proofs were lacking of the devotion the Americans in Nicaragua yielded to right and justice, they might find ample evidence in the single fact that Mateo Pineda adhered to their fortunes in each extremity of good and evil.

When the Rifles reached Nagarote they, with the Rangers and the new infantry battalion, took up the line of march for Masaya. At Managua they found the commandant of the post, José Herrera, firm in his faith to the Americans, and he remained true until death, in spite of a brother’s efforts to seduce him from the path of military duty, being executed by the allies, under the sentence of a court-martial some time afterward, for his adhesion to the Americans.

On arriving at Granada, the general-in-chief published the decree re-constructing the provisional government by virtue of the treaty of the twenty-third of October. That treaty guaranteed the naturalized Nicaraguans equality of privileges with the native born; but the President and his ministers had violated it by attempting to create distinctions to the prejudice of the naturalized citizens. Walker had sworn, not only to observe the treaty himself, but to cause it to be observed. He remained the sole sponsor for Rivas before Nicaragua and before the world; and he would have deserved to be branded as a perjured man had he permitted Rivas with impunity not merely to excite the passions of the people against the Americans, but to invite the foreign foe into the State with a view of expelling the naturalized soldiers. In addition to the duties devolved on Walker by his oath to cause the treaty to be observed, he had been invested with unlimited authority to protect the Oriental and Meridional Departments from the foreign enemies of the Republic; but how could such protection be afforded if the orders of the political power, giving the enemy free entry into the State, were to be respected? Therefore, the commissioner for the Oriental and Meridional Departments, D. Fermin Ferrer, was named Provisional President until the people might select their own ruler, under the decree issued by Rivas on the 10th of June. The same day the decree was published Walker issued an address to the people of Nicaragua, and after reciting the acts of the Rivas government, he concluded: “With such accumulated crimes—conspiring against the very people it was bound to protect—the late provisional government was no longer worthy of existence. In the name of the people I have, therefore, declared its dissolution, and have organized a provisional government, until the nation exercises its natural right of electing its own rulers.”

Under the decree of the 10th of June the election for President took place on the fourth Sunday of the month and the two succeeding days. The voting was general in the Oriental and Meridional Departments; but as D. Patricio Rivas rescinded his own decree after reaching Chinandega, and as the Guatemalans had already passed the northern frontier of the State there were no ballots cast in the Occidental Department. A large majority of the votes polled were for the general-in-chief; and the Provisional President, Ferrer, declaring the result of the election by decree, fixed on the 12th of July for the inauguration of the President elect. Accordingly, on the appointed day, with due observances, both civil and religious, Walker took the oath of office on the Plaza of Granada, and was installed as Chief Executive of the Republic of Nicaragua.

A few days after the decree of the 20th of June was published, the Costa Rican schooner, San José, commanded by Gilbert Morton, entered the port of San Juan del Sur. She had been purchased from her former owner, Alvarado, by Mariano Salazar, and he had made Morton nominal half-owner of the schooner, supposing she might thereby get the right to carry American colors. The American vice-consul at Realejo, one Giauffreau, gave the schooner what Morton called a sailing letter; and the vice-consul, according to all accounts, was either so ignorant or so neglectful of his duties as to permit the vessel to fly the American flag and to be cleared from the port of Realejo under this pretended sailing letter. The commandant at Chinandega, a Cuban, by the name of Golibard, had been ordered away by Rivas because he refused to forsake the Americans; and Golibard was aboard the San José when she arrived at San Juan del Sur. Morton, thinking he could impose on the port authorities with his sailing letter from Giauffreau, had not hesitated to enter the harbor; and he, as well as Salazar, supposed they might, under the American flag, drive a profitable trade with the schooner during hostilities between Nicaragua and the other States.

But the San José had not been many hours in the port of San Juan before she was seized, the charge against her being that she was without a flag and without lawful papers. The schooner was American-built and had passed from the flag of the United States to that of Costa Rica. Even if she had then been re-sold to an American citizen she could not have recovered her original character without an act of Congress. Morton, after the seizure, appealed for relief to the U. S. States Minister at Granada: but on a careful examination of the subject Mr. Wheeler was satisfied that the schooner, far from being entitled to protection by American authority, was really amenable for an abuse of the American flag. The San José was, therefore, condemned by a court of admiralty jurisdiction at the port of San Juan; and being forfeited to the government of Nicaragua, she was converted into a schooner-of-war, bearing the flag of the Isthmian Republic.

The Granada was armed with two six-pound carronades and was placed in charge of Lieutenant Callender Irvine Fayssoux. This officer was a native of Missouri, and had served for a time in the Texan navy under the orders of Commodore Moore. He had also accompanied Gen. Lopez in his expedition to the Island of Cuba in May, 1850; and at Cardenas he had contributed essentially to the successful landing of the force from the steamer Creole, by swimming ashore with a rope in his mouth when there was much embarrassment as to the means of getting the boat up to the wharf. His high qualities will hereafter appear when we come to relate the history of the schooner; and it is only necessary here to say, that his system and order were such, the Granada was ready for service in a very short time. The men detailed from different companies of the army for service on the schooner were soon brought under good discipline by their efficient commander; and all of them felt they were subject to the orders of one capable of command, and determined to have each man do his duty on all occasions.

On the 29th of June, Col. John Allen of Kentucky arrived at Granada with one hundred and four men for the service of the State; and on the 6th of July about the same number were landed coming from New-York, from New-Orleans and from California. A day or two after the latter arrival, Major Waters, with about a hundred Rangers, marched to Leon and reconnoitred the town. He found it barricaded in every quarter, and the Guatemalans under General Paredes were occupying the main Plaza. On the approach of Waters all the pickets of the enemy were drawn in, and their whole force was put under arms for action. But no portion of the enemy ventured to leave the barricades. After passing through the suburbs of the city and examining the preparations of the enemy for defence, Waters returned to Granada with a report showing the inability of the Allies—as they called themselves—to move until they had received large additions of force.

After the inauguration of Walker on the 12th of July, his cabinet was formed by the appointment of D. Fermin Ferrer as Minister of Relations, D. Mateo Pineda as Minister of War, and D. Manuel Carrascosa as Minister of Hacienda and Public Credit. The organization of the new government was duly communicated to the American Minister; and on the 19th of July Mr. Wheeler was received by the President at the government house in Granada. The Minister opened his address to the Executive of Nicaragua, saying: “I am directed by the President of the United States to notify you that I am instructed to establish relations with this State.” Mr. Wheeler thus showed himself far bolder and more decided than Mr. Pierce had been at Washington. It is true the government at Washington had instructed its minister “to establish relations” with the government of Nicaragua; but at the time the order was given it was thought Rivas would be in power at Granada. Mr. Marcy had also instructed Mr. Wheeler to ask explanations concerning the revocation of the charter of the Accessory Transit Company, and to request the discharge from the Nicaraguan army of two or three boys—among them a son and nephew, I think, of Senator Bayard of Delaware—who had run off from school and gone to Central America in search of novelty and adventure. Of course the explanations of the decree of revocation and the discharges of the boys could be obtained only from Walker; and hence the minister had either to disregard the orders of Mr. Marcy or to recognize the government of the lately-elected President.

The message Mr. Pierce sent to Congress, touching the reception of Father Vigil, was strongly marked with the weakness and hesitation of American diplomacy. The whole tone of the message was apologetic; and the American President was throughout overcome by the false idea many people in the United States had formed as to the Nicaraguan movement being one of annexation to the Republic of the North. The representatives of France, Spain, Brazil, and the Spanish American States, at Washington, seeing the weakness of the United States, combined for the purpose of driving Father Vigil from the country. So well did they succeed, that the Minister of Nicaragua withdrew from the Federal Capital not many days after his reception, and thus Mr. Marcy, aided by the intrigues of the foreign representatives, might be able to take advantage of any opportunity circumstances afforded to relieve the American cabinet from the awkward position in which he fancied it had been placed. Hence the vexation of the Secretary of State may be imagined when he heard Mr. Wheeler had, in literally carrying out his instructions, recognized the government which displaced that of Rivas.

Mr. Wheeler, being on the ground, and seeing the actual condition of affairs, was never in doubt as to the policy his country ought to pursue toward the parties contending in Nicaragua; but the Secretary of State at Washington, remote from the scene of trouble, constantly wrought on by the ministers of foreign countries, and dreading the effect the new Nicaraguan movement would have on old political organizations in the United States, was always averse to any action which might favor the Americans in Nicaragua. Not many days, however, after Mr. Wheeler recognized the Walker government, facts occurred showing in a strong light the good policy of the American minister.

Lieut. Fayssoux, as soon as he was ready for sea, received orders to sail northward from San Juan and cruise about the Gulf of Fonseca. It was well known that the enemy were communicating with San Salvador and Guatemala by bungos from Tempisque to La Union, and it was hoped the Granada might intercept letters showing the state of affairs at Leon and the relations of Rivas with the other States. The presence, too, of the schooner in those waters could not fail to alarm the enemy and embarrass the reinforcements going toward Leon. It was also reported that the enemy were preparing vessels to send after the Granada in order to capture her, and that these vessels were being fitted out at La Union, in the State of San Salvador.

On the evening of the 21st of July, the schooner hove anchor and put to sea, and on the afternoon of the 23d she was cruising off the entrance of the Gulf of Fonseca. “At 3h. 30m.,” so the log runs, “saw a sail standing out of the gulf: made chase. At 5h. 30m. brought her to with a shot from the port gun. Capt. De Brissot (a passenger on the schooner) boarded her. She proved to be the Italian brig Rostan, from La Union, bound to San Juan del Sur. She reported two Chilian brigs and one Sardinian schooner lying at La Union, and the French frigate Embuscade at Tiger Island. At 7, took in flying-jib and foresail, and stood off and on, on the lookout for a schooner that the Rostan reported due from the northward and westward.” Then, on the 24th: “At 9h. 15m. A.M., saw a sail standing out from La Union. At 2 P.M. light breezes from S. and W. At 4, standing to the E., passed, on opposite tracks, the French frigate Embuscade. At 4h. 30m., saw a number of small craft to the E.: called all hands to quarters. At 5, boarded the launch Maria, Capt. Braganda. She proving to be French, and her papers all right, she was allowed to proceed on her course to Tempisque. Capt. Braganda reported the same as the brig Rostan, therefore, as there were none of the enemy’s vessels in the gulf, we concluded to go out to look for the schooner from the N. and W.”

Nothing, however, was seen of the vessel expected from the northward and westward, and on the 26th, the Granada again stood up the gulf. On the 27th, a bungo, with several passengers, was captured, and on the 28th, a large boat from Tempisque was taken, and one of the passengers proved to be Mariano Salazar. When Salazar was brought aboard the Granada he gave his name as Francisco Salazar, but De Brissot had seen him at Realejo, and, although not certain of the fact, told Fayssoux he thought the prisoner was Don Mariano. In the same bungo with Salazar were several letters for persons in San Salvador. The day after Salazar was taken, the Granada sailed for San Juan del Sur, whence the prisoner and the letters were immediately, on the schooner’s arrival, despatched for Granada.

Salazar was executed as a traitor on the Plaza of Granada late in the afternoon of the 3d of August. It was Sunday, and the people of the town gathered in numbers to witness the execution. They regarded Salazar as the author of most of the misfortunes they had undergone during the civil war. It was his money had fitted out the democratic bands which had burnt the Jalteva, and robbed the shop-keepers of the suburbs; and they regarded it as a special providence that he should be taken by a schooner he had himself owned, and be executed by the Americans he had first used and then attempted to betray. There was the same joyful feeling shown by the old Legitimists at the death of Salazar as had been shown by the Democrats at the execution of Corral.

Among the letters taken in the gulf was one from Manning, the British vice-consul at Realejo, to his correspondent at San Miguel, D. Florencio Souza. It was dated at Leon, on the 24th of July, and is so characteristic that the most of it deserves insertion as an instance of British conduct and British policy. He pathetically begins: “Dear Friend; I am here without knowing where to go, since Walker will not give us a passport to pass through Granada. I understand the man is furious against me, attributing to me the change. It is certain that all his acts are rapid: and we have not passed here without great apprehensions that he will make an attack on Leon. He came as far as Managua, and all we know is that he returned to Granada. If this man receives forces and money, I assure you it will not be so easy to drive him out of the State; for as the forces come from the other States in handfuls of men nothing is accomplished, and the expenses and sacrifices are made in vain. I am much afflicted to think that under these circumstances no more activity is used in so serious an affair. At the present there are 500 men from San Salvador, 500 from Guatemala, and 800 belonging to this place, and according to my judgment double that number is required.” Then from public affairs the wily trader comes to business. “Altogether affairs are wretched in Nicaragua and very distressing, and if I remain here much longer I shall not have a shirt I can put on. Already you can suppose how much I have suffered by these convulsions.” He prepares to make Souza useful to himself by seeming to have a care for the interests of the Salvadorian: “It is known,” he writes, “that a certain Fabens has sailed to Boston with the gold quartz, and that with one Heiss he has bought the mine from Padre Sosa. You need not be afraid but I will do all I can for your interest in this affair with all earnestness; and you should write to Davis in Boston via Omoa, inquiring whether the ore Fabens and Heiss took was from the mines of Bestaniere.” At last, and like a lady’s postscript, comes the gist of the letter: “The troops here are altogether naked. If you have any drilling you can sell at 12½ cents per yard, I will take ten bales. Don’t forget my request in favor of my adopted son, Mr. George Brower, to have him appointed to represent San Salvador in Liverpool.” Much as the vice-consul sympathized with the cause of the allies, he could not let the chance slip of making some money from the drilling the soldiers required.

When the friends of Salazar at Leon heard of his capture in the gulf, they immediately arrested Dr. Joseph W. Livingston, an American long resident in Nicaragua, and sent a courier to Granada saying they would hold him as a hostage for Salazar’s safety. The British vice-consul did not disdain to write a letter to the American Minister entreating him to save the life of Salazar in order that Livingston might go unharmed. But the courier arrived several days after the execution of the Leonese traitor; and Mr. Wheeler was not a man to be startled from his propriety by the cunning devices of Mr. Manning. In his reply to the British vice-consul the American Minister draws the distinction between Salazar and Livingston in such words as probably little suited his correspondent. “Salazar,” he writes, “was one—and a most prominent one—of a faction revolting against the lawful government of the Republic, and a general in their forces. He knew that he was liable to the penalty of treason. Dr. Livingston is an American citizen, much loved and respected, and owes no allegiance to the authorities of Nicaragua, much less to a disappointed faction; nor has he ever been mixed up with the parties by any overt or belligerent act.” At the same time he answered Mr. Manning’s letter, Mr. Wheeler wrote to General Ramon Belloso, commanding-in-chief the Allied forces, informing the latter that if any harm befell Dr. Livingston, the government of the United States would promptly hold the governments of San Salvador and Guatemala to a strict accountability. He concluded by saying, that “if one hair of Dr. Livingston’s head is injured, or his life taken, or that of another American citizen, your government and that of Guatemala will feel the force of a power which, while it respects the rights of other nations, will be ready and is able to vindicate its own honor and the lives and property of its citizens.” Brave words these; and they might have resulted in worthy deeds if Mr. Wheeler had controlled the necessary force; but when read with the gloss of after events, they are turned into a biting sarcasm on the government he represented. The life of Livingston was, however, probably saved by the energetic words of the Minister; though he was ordered from the State in which he had been living for ten years.

Some days after these events occurred, Hon. Pierre Soulé arrived at Granada. He went thither with the object of securing some modifications in a decree which had been published by Rivas a few days before his flight from Leon to Chinandega. The decree authorized commissioners to negotiate a loan of five hundred thousand dollars, to be secured by a million of acres of the public lands. The modifications suggested by Mr. Soulé were soon made, and S. F. Slatter and Mason Pilcher became the commissioners to act under the decree. The bonds issued under this decree are the only legal bonds of the Republic ever sold in the United States, and the common impression that large quantities of Nicaraguan obligations are afloat is altogether erroneous.

But, although the decree for the loan was the immediate object of Mr. Soulé’s visit, his presence in Nicaragua had other beneficial results. His fine head and noble air made a deep impression on the people of the country, peculiarly sensitive as they are to the charms of feature and of manner; and then he spoke the Castilian with such lofty elegance, and addressed the common people with so much kindness and insight into their wants and feelings that all listened to him with mingled delight and reverence. The docility of the native Nicaraguans, especially of the Indians, is great, and when approached with gentleness and persuasion they may be led in almost any direction. The influence of such words as Mr. Soulé spoke to them remained for a long time, and often after he left they used to ask when His Excellency, a title they give to persons they consider of rank, would return to Nicaragua.

During the month of August not many persons arrived in the country, either for military service or for civil pursuits. A new and more dangerous disease, also, began to make its appearance in the army; desertion, more fatal than cholera, commenced its ravages in the ranks. The first notable desertion was that of one Turley with a whole company of Rangers. They were sent from Managua by the commandant, Capt. Dolan, with orders to examine the road along the southwestern shore of the lake, as far as Tipitapa. For several days Dolan anxiously awaited their return; but news reached Granada of their being seen on the Malacatoya river. It was not until many days, however, that their purposes and fate were known. They appear to have deserted with the intention of proceeding through Chontales, robbing and plundering as they went, and of finally reaching the sea by the Blewfields river. Some circumstances indicate that the plan was formed before Turley and his men reached Nicaragua; for on their arrival they were very urgent in the request to remain a company by themselves, and they had been in the service only a few weeks when they deserted. Their plan, however, whether long meditated or the result of sudden resolution, met with the punishment it deserved.

Many days after Turley’s disappearance a French trader, from the mining town of Libertad, came to Granada to inform Walker of the fate of the deserters. When they first appeared in Chontales the people supposed they were on duty, but their violent and rapacious acts soon betrayed their true character. They passed into the mining district, and near Libertad they tied up and flogged a Frenchman, in order to make him disclose the place where he kept his gold. Then the French of the district, composed mostly of those discharged from the army at Rivas in the March previous, acting together, raised a number of the people of the country and attacked the robbers. Turley’s party was, it seems, short of ammunition, and they finally agreed to give up their arms if they were furnished with a guide to conduct them to the Blewfields. Their arms were given up, and soon thereafter, while they were being marched, by their captors, toward the town, fire was opened on them, and they were all, except two, slaughtered on the spot.

With the exception, however, of Turley’s company, desertion among the Americans was, at that time, rare. The desertions, though not many, were principally confined to the Europeans in the ranks. Many of these Europeans had gone to Nicaragua with the idea of enlisting for the mere pay they were to get; and without the foresight or patience which might enable them to wait for time to enhance the value of the lands they were to receive, they became dissatisfied with the scarcity of money, and sought means of leaving the army and the country. New-comers, also, were frightened by the reports constantly circulated as to the number and strength of the enemy; and it was among those who knew least of the land that the disposition to despond was greatest. In addition to these causes, tending to diminish the strength of the army, a large proportion of the men going to Nicaragua at the expense of the State, were found unfit for military service. As they could not be examined surgically in the United States, their defects were not known until they came under the eye of the surgical staff at Granada. Those familiar with medical statistics, may readily imagine how many of the men were rejected for the single disease of hernia.

The enemy, however, were not without causes of weakness and dissension. Some of the faults of their force arose from its allied nature. The soldiers in Leon were drawn from Guatemala and San Salvador; and besides these, Rivas had pressed numbers of laborers about Leon and Chinandega into the ranks. The Guatemalan contingent was made up entirely of Indians, and fierce was the feud between them and the Leoneses. Not unfrequently collisions would occur between the Guatemalans and the people of the town, at the numerous liquor shops scattered through the suburbs of Subtiaba; and in the quarrels knives would be drawn, and blood spilled. So pressing was the evil that the Guatemalan soldiers were finally ordered to remain in their quarters, and it was necessary to keep them out of the streets, in order that the insults of the people might be avoided. The Salvadorians were tolerated by the Leoneses; but the local authorities could not prevail on the latter to regard the former as their deliverers from tyranny and oppression.

The allied troops had not been many days at Leon, before fever and cholera attacked them. The Guatemalans especially suffered from this disease; and so great was their loss, that many among the soldiers, and some even of the officers, attributed the malady to poisonous substances mixed in their food. But it was easy for a medical eye to perceive sufficient causes for the mortality of the troops in their sudden removal from the highlands of Guatemala to the plains of Nicaragua, and in the total want of comfort and cleanliness about the quarters and persons of the soldiers. As Manning wrote, the troops were almost without clothing; and this was a severe deprivation to the Guatemala Indian, accustomed to the use of the thick woollen jacket, which protects him from the cold of his native hills. And woollen covering at night is indispensable to the health of the soldier in Nicaragua. The warm days, followed by the clear cold nights, render blankets necessary at all seasons of the year; and it was the want of care in sleeping which produced much of the disease, not only among the Guatemalans at Leon, but also among the Americans at Granada. When you add to these causes, the little attention Central American officers pay to the health of their soldiers, and the small skill of their surgeons and physicians, it is not difficult to understand the mortality among the Allies.

While disease was destroying the soldiers and dissensions were spreading between the people and the troops, the leaders were not more friendly in their feelings toward each other than were their followers: the consequences were divided counsels and conflicting conduct. The chief command of the allied force had been given by the provisional government of Rivas to General Ramon Belloso, the commander of the San Salvador contingent. But Paredes, who commanded the Guatemalans, was little disposed to obey the orders of a man he regarded as altogether his inferior in knowledge and capacity, and he also thought it unworthy of his Republic to yield the control of her forces to the general of a much feebler State. The Guatemalans consider theirs the best organized and the leading State of Central America; and the pure Spanish race, which maintains its supremacy at the seat of the old captain-generalcy by the aid of Carrera and his Indians, regards, with some disdain, the irregular governments the mixed races attempt to establish. On the contrary, the self-styled liberals throughout Central America have a bitter hatred toward Carrera and his minions, as they call the Aycinenas and the Pavones, who really direct the affairs of the Republic, under the nominal presidency of the illiterate Indian. And it was jealousy of Guatemala which induced Rivas and Jerez to place the command in the hands of the Salvadorian general. Paredes, however, seems to have retained the privilege of refusing to obey Belloso whenever he thought proper, and the latter was not in the position to enforce obedience or to dispense with the services of the Guatemalans.

Besides the dissensions in the allied camp, there were two authorities in the upper part of Nicaragua claiming the supreme executive power. At Leon, D. Patricio Rivas and his cabinet asserted their right to be esteemed by the Allies the sovereign authority of the Republic; while at Somoto Grande, in Segovia, D. José Maria Estrada had set up his government, and issued orders in the name of the people of Nicaragua. Each of these cabals ridiculed the claims of the other, and their contentions were like to involve the allied States in new difficulties. Estrada had sought refuge in Honduras after the treaty of the twenty-third of October, and had published a pamphlet, claiming a right to be chief executive of Nicaragua, because he had written a private decree, declaring null and void the treaty made by Corral under the absolute power he had conferred. Everybody laughed at the idea of giving force to a decree which was unheard of until published in Honduras; but when the defection of Rivas took place, Estrada entered Segovia under the protection of a few Legitimists, commanded by Martinez. The latter proceeded toward Matagalpa, in order to press the Indians of that region into his service, while the Senator-president, as Estrada called himself, remained at Somoto Grande.

The Legitimist pretender was now in the way of his own party. He had not the discretion to perceive that by thus placing himself as an obstacle to the union of the two factions against the Americans, he made his removal from Nicaragua an object with his friends as well as his enemies. The idea of his being purposely left at Somoto Grande without any adequate guard, seems not to have entered his mind. But the fact of Estrada’s defenceless condition was soon known at Leon—known in so short a time as almost to preclude any explanation, save that the information was sent by some of his own adherents. Immediately, a violent Democrat, who had been imprisoned at Granada during the civil war and was released by Walker on the thirteenth of October, 1855, collected a band of some forty-five or fifty armed men and hurried on toward Somoto Grande. This man, by name Antonio Chavis, could scarcely have acted as he did without the knowledge and assistance of the Rivas administration. Chavis reached Somoto Grande without Estrada hearing of his approach, and while the Granadino was indulging his dream of regaining power in the Republic, the Democrats from Leon surprised and murdered him in the streets of the mountain village.

The murder of Estrada reminds us of the dark craft which marks the history of the Italian Republics during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. The same causes which in Italy produced the Carraras of Padua, the Viscontis of Milan, and finally the master-piece of the school, Cæsar Borgia, Duke of Urbino, have brought forth the same type of character in the politicians and soldiers of the Spanish American Republics. It is true, there is wanting in the latter the exalted intellect and refined taste of the former, and the mixed race of Central and South America could never produce a Machiavelli capable of depicting with terrible truth the principles, if such they may be called, controlling the political action of his countrymen. But the Spanish American is as dark, though not as deep and wise, in his craft as the Italian. And long civil war seems to have the power of creating this type of politicians, even among races least affected toward it; for the English wars of the Roses produced the subtle genius of the third Richard, who vied with the best Italian of them all in his adherence to the maxims of the illustrious author of The Prince.

Thus, by the death of Estrada, the old Legitimists who had emigrated after the treaty of the twenty-third of October, were led to acknowledge the authority of D. Patricio Rivas. Thenceforth Martinez who had, with a few men and some arms, penetrated as far as Matagalpa acted under the orders of the provisional government at Leon. It was easier, however, for the leaders to settle their differences and to agree on a common plan of action than for them to extinguish the hatreds and animosities they had kindled and fed among their respective followers. They did not venture for some time to place Legitimists in the same camp with the Democrats they had either inveigled or forced into their service, and it was necessary, during the war, for them to keep the soldiers of the two factions as widely apart as possible.

Toward the close of the month of August the arrangements of the Walker administration with Garrison and Morgan, for bringing Americans to Nicaragua, were completed. The commissioners appointed to investigate the indebtedness of the old Canal Company to the government had reported in July; and the dues from the company, according to the report, amounted to more than four hundred thousand dollars. Some payments, had, however, been made, but the report did not estimate them, because the company had failed to appear, and the judgment against them was by default. After deducting all payments, still the indebtedness was upward of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and this was much more than the value of all the property on the Isthmus. The property was, therefore, sold to Garrison and Morgan, they paying therefor in the bonds they had received for advances made to the Rivas government. In the meantime the American minister, obeying the instructions of his chief, examined the facts which led to the revocation of the charters of the Canal and Accessory Transit Companies. Besides the explanations given by the Nicaraguan government, and the facts brought out in the report of the commissioners, Mr. Wheeler examined a number of witnesses, whose depositions he forwarded to the State Department at Washington. The facts reported by the minister were so conclusive as to the legality and justice of the proceedings against the companies, that Mr. Marcy never wrote another word on the subject.

In fact the Accessory Transit Company had itself furnished the American government with the most satisfactory evidence of its own unscrupulous and criminal character. On the 8th of April, while Mora was yet in Nicaragua, Thomas Lord, the vice-president of the company, wrote to Hosea Birdsall, authorizing him “to ask for the assistance of the commander of any man-of-war of Her Britannic Majesty’s navy in the port of San Juan.” “The object of the Transit Company,” so its vice-president wrote, “is to prevent accessions of filibusters to Walker’s force, pending his hostilities with Costa Rica, and to effect this purpose, no pains must be spared or effort left untried.” In conclusion he adds: “Unless our boats are seized by the filibusters on the Orizaba and Charles Morgan they cannot get into the interior, and without large accessions Walker must fail and Costa Rica be saved. To this result Her Majesty’s officers in San Juan can materially contribute, by protecting American property in the manner indicated.” It was made clear, by such acts, that the company was afraid to trust the justice of its own government.

It was the necessity for completing the arrangements about the Transit, no less than the rainy season, which kept Walker from moving against the Allies. It would have been folly to advance against Leon without having the Transit secure and communication with the United States certain. Leon was well barricaded, and the Americans had not numbers to spare for an assault; neither had they artillery to aid their attack, even if the roads had admitted of its easy transportation. Besides, disease and dissension were weakening the Allies; and it was only after the death of Estrada that they got even an appearance of unity. It was early in the month of September that events occurred to encourage the Allies in an advance toward Granada. But before narrating these events, it may be well to mention the celebration of the 1st of September, at the capital, as it displays an element which entered into the war in Nicaragua.

At different times a number of Cubans had found their way to Nicaragua; and after Lt. Col. F. A. Lainé was appointed aide-de-camp to the general-in-chief, they were formed into a body-guard for the President. The Cuban company consisted of about fifty members, and their familiarity with the two languages—Spanish and English—made their services valuable. Early in the year the Cuban element in Nicaragua had attracted the attention of the Spanish authorities in the island; and in June, 1856, General Morales de Rada, who naturally disliked those called “filibusters,” because his running away from them had made him the laughing-stock of all the Havana wits, was sent to San José for the purpose of advising with President Mora in reference to the war against the Americans of Nicaragua. The Cubans with Walker were well known for their devotion to the cause of independence. Two of the aides of the general-in-chief, Lainé and Pineda, had been engaged in revolutionary schemes on the island, and the prefect of the Oriental Department, D. Francisco Aguëro, was a native of the disaffected district of Puerto Principe. Hence the interest with which Spain watched affairs in Nicaragua.

On the 1st of September, a mass for the repose of the soul of Lopez was celebrated in the parish church at Granada, and the day was in other respects observed by the Cubans in the service. The ardent minds of these southern youths dreamed, however, more of the future than they meditated the past; they thought more of the time when they should sail for the island to avenge the death of Lopez and his followers, than of the dark and painful scenes which attended their execution. And it is this reluctance of the southern imagination to dwell on the gloomy side of affairs which fits its possessors less for the real work of revolution, than the robust children of the North, whose fancies do not fly from the grave and its surroundings.