“In every republic, parties have always existed, and always will exist. It is right and necessary that they should, in order to act as checks one on the other, and thus protect the public welfare. Honestly differing in their views of certain measures of national policy, and in the decision of which every citizen must feel the deepest interest, we have long had, in Nicaragua, two parties, bearing the somewhat extraordinary names of ‘Timbucos’ and ‘Calandracas.’ So far from regarding this circumstance as a thing to be deplored, the well-wishers of the State have witnessed it with satisfaction, as showing that the people at large comprehended the nature of republican institutions, and the necessity of deciding for themselves, upon whatever, of a public nature, might affect them or their interests. We have seen one of these parties, after a long struggle, in which arguments were substituted for bayonets, and ballots for bullets, succeeding the other, and reforming the fundamental law of the State, while the other, as in duty bound, yielded peaceably to the will of the majority. The laborer pursued his avocations undisturbed while this peaceable revolution was going on; the merchant continued his legitimate business; no blood was spilled, no women widowed, or children rendered fatherless.
“The monstrous faction which now threatens the State belongs to no party; it is a Vandalic horde, aiming, by vile means, at unwarrantable ends, and directing its efforts against the Government, not because of the policy of that Government, but because it is charged with the execution and vindication of the laws which this faction would annul and destroy! It is made up of enemies of order, of liberty, and of humanity. Let not former differences of opinion blind men to the real enormity of the insurrection; let no party favor this attempt to overturn not only the existing, but all governments, and plant anarchy in the soil of peace. When the country is threatened, we are neither ‘Timbucos’ nor ‘Calandracas,’ but Nicaraguans. We cannot believe that this faction, which has no principles, no policy, no moral incentives to action, and whose constant object is the destruction of society, can find sympathy or support, except amongst assassins and robbers.”
The first step taken by the Government, upon ascertaining the formidable character of the insurrection, is indicated below.
“No man shall be molested or persecuted on account of his opinions, of whatever nature they may be, provided that he does not by any overt act infringe the laws.”—Art. 30 of the Constitution.
“Every one has seen with horror the devastation which has followed in the steps of the barbarous Bernabe Somoza since his arrival in the town of St. George, in the Department Meridional. He burned and desolated its haciendas, and gave the city of Rivas to the flames, at the same time that, with the horde that follows him, he attacked the garrison of the line, and the various patriots assembled there, who, after having sustained a siege of eleven days, in the most heroic manner, were compelled to retreat;—therefore, the Supreme Government, in discharge of the duties imposed upon it by humanity, religion, and the country, has issued the following extraordinary decrees:
“To the General-in-Chief, Commanding the Regular Forces of the State:
“Sir: The Supreme Executive Power has ordered me to communicate to you the following decrees for execution:
“It having become necessary to the well-being of the State to put an end to the anarchical movements which threaten with destruction the persons and properties of the Departments Oriental and Meridional, and which now disturb the general peace, therefore, in view of this peremptory exigency, and in order to save the liberty of the people, and to put the State in a position to defend its independence and integrity, now placed in extreme danger by the refusal of the British Government to listen to our claims of redress against the usurpation of the most precious part of our territories, in conformity with Art. 48, Sec. 9, of the Constitution, it has been and is
“Art. 1. All citizens of Nicaragua, from the ages of sixteen to fifty years, are required by the fundamental law to take up arms in support of the public order and territorial integrity of the State, excepting only the clergy, and those who, by some physical defect, are absolutely incapacitated for military service.
“Art. 2. They are therefore required to present themselves for enrolment, with their equipments, and all horses and mules which they may possess, before the chief of the forces of the line in this city, or before the legionary commanders in the departments.
“Art. 3. The horses and mules as aforesaid of those who do not present themselves, are liable to be seized by detachments of troops sent out for that purpose, and the owners will incur the penalty, in case they are lost, of being excluded from recovering their value, as provided by Art. 173, Sec. 1, of the Constitution, besides being themselves subject to the penalties prescribed by Art. 104 of the penal code.
“Art. 4. The forces which may be enrolled shall hold themselves in readiness to move whenever and wherever required.
“Given in Leon this 19th of June, 1849.
“To save the State from anarchy, and to enable it to defend its territorial integrity, in compliance with duty, and in use of constitutional power, it is
Art. 1. That the General in Chief, Don Jose Trinidad Muñoz, is fully authorized to put an end to the existing insurrection, and to restore complete order, as also to place the State in an attitude to defend its territorial integrity; his orders are therefore to be punctually executed by the legionary commanders, and exactly complied with by the commissaries, not only for ordinary but extraordinary expenses.
Given in Leon, this 19th of June, 1849.
Decrees were also issued for the collection of an extraordinary tax, and requiring persons entering the various towns to procure passports. The proclamation of the Supreme Director, Ramirez, was a well written appeal to the patriotism of the people, concluding as follows:
“No good object can be attained by disturbing the public peace, and the misguided men who have joined in these lawless movements forget that their interests are identical with those of all other citizens; forget that their conduct must destroy every social and civil privilege, and plunge society into its savage, chaotic state, when might shall subvert right; and when life, liberty, nor possessions are secure. Hatred begets hatred, and vengeance, vengeance; and they who strike against the wholesome restraints of law, will themselves be stricken down in its fall.
“People of Nicaragua, by your choice I have been placed in a position where my authority is individually greater than yours; but your blood has as much value as mine; my interests are yours, and those of the nation. Let me then, both as a magistrate and a citizen, conjure you, in the name of humanity, by our hopes of future prosperity, and on behalf of our country, to rally to the support of the constitution and the laws, and thus confound our enemies, and realize the blessings which shall flow from peace and the maintenance of public order.”
The address of the General in Chief of the State to his soldiers, furnishes a very favorable example of the style of such documents in Central America; and its introduction will, in this respect at least, prove interesting.
“Soldiers!
“The honored standard of order, which you have hitherto so gloriously sustained, is again attacked. Forty intrepid men of your number covered themselves with glory, in maintaining the city of Rivas against overwhelming numbers; yielding only with their lives the trust confided to their care. Since their lamented fall, over which a bereaved country is still weeping, there has been no check on the wanton atrocities of the robbers and Vandals who overcame them. The devastation which moves with the insurgents will extend all over the State, if not opposed by the honor, valor, and patriotism you have so conspicuously exhibited in other days. What will become of our beautiful country, companions in arms, if this turbulence, which finds its food in blood and ashes, does not encounter, in its savage progress, the invincible obstacle of your courage?
“You are called upon to guard the supreme powers of the State, as you have sworn to do at the foot of your flag. Your loyalty and heroism have been and are still the shield of the country, not less than the terror of those who compass its destruction and your enslavement. The soul of the hero of Rivas, the valiant Martinez, will glory in your triumph over the enemies of the country for which he died!
“Fellow Citizens, Friends of Society!
“Social order is attacked; the lava of sanguinary destruction threatens to overflow our dearest interests. The assassin of the honored Venerio, and of the innocent Solorio, the destroyer of the pacific Rivas, and the hated cause of innumerable other misfortunes, has seduced a portion of the unreflecting people of the department Meridional from their allegiance, and is leading them into the direst iniquities, while, like another Nero, he revels above the ruins of the capitol of that unfortunate department. But if your valor and patriotism unite to support the cause of order, they will interpose an efficient obstacle to the dangers which threaten us, and turn back in confusion the enemies of the State.
“The supreme government, the centre of order, has invested me with the largest authority to act for its support; and with your effective aid, I go with my soldiers to fulfill the duties with which I am charged. The country asks, if it need be, the lives of her sons; our wives, mothers, and children look to you in this emergency for the security of their liberty and lives!
“Head-quarters, June 21, 1849.”
The subjoined is also a specimen of the announcements and appeals made by the editors of the official Bulletin, with the view to rouse the patriotism of the people, and concentrate their indignation against the insurgents.
“We denounced before the people, in a previous number, the incendiarism, pillage, and bloodshed, with which that most ferocious barbarian, (antropofago,) Bernabe Somoza, had desolated the department Meridional; but those crimes were as nothing in comparison with the most unheard-of outrages and unparalleled barbarisms which he has more recently committed in that important section of the State. He has spared neither age nor sex, not even the unresisting wounded, nor the corpses of the dead; and with impious hand has seized upon the sacred vessels in the temple of the God of Justice, who, penetrating at a single glance the hearts of men, and always as just as inexorable in the end, will as assuredly save the virtuous, as he will, with his terrible lightnings, strike down the wicked and the criminal. In evidence of the new and almost incredible horrors which have filled up the cup of sorrow, for all those who possess souls and human sympathies, we publish the following account, communicated by Don Trinidad Salazar, commandant in the department Oriental, to the General-in-chief:
“‘I have positive news from Rivas, that Somoza is still in that city, perpetrating every excess. He has shot all the wounded; robbed even the sacred vessels in the churches, and is on the eve of entirely burning the city. He has disinterred the body of Lieut. Col. Martinez, and dragged it naked through the streets. In short, these are but few examples of the thousand horrible acts committed by this barbarous man. Within an hour has died in this city, from the effects of his wounds, our friend, the brave Capt. Santos Ramirez, notwithstanding every means were exhausted to save him; and it only remains for me to pay his remains their last sad honors.’
“How terrible to the imagination, how disgraceful to humanity, are deeds like these, committed on the spot consecrated by the blood of the hero and Christian, the honored Don Manuel Antonio de la Cerda, first chief of Nicaragua, whose sacred corpse was also thus outraged in those days of barbarism which have been looked back to with horror, but which bear no parallel to those now passing in that unfortunate department.
“But those noble soldiers, the brave Martinez and Ramirez, shall receive the rites of sepulchre in our hearts. There we will engrave deep their memories. Their conduct shall be forever an example to our soldiers, to the friends of humanity, and the admirers of true honor. Our breasts shall be the temples where they shall receive the tribute of our gratitude, and immortal glory. God’s justice and the sword of the violated laws have gone forth to avenge their blood!”
Having received these documents and the information accompanying them, I relinquished the idea of an immediate departure, and determined to wait for the arrival of the Californian escort. The news of the General’s approach created great joy; and the bells were rung and guns fired in token of satisfaction. He was expected to arrive the next day; and that evening a “banda” was published, requiring the houses on the principal streets and on the plaza to be decorated, and everything put in order to receive him. The publication of the “banda” was a novelty to us. It was done in this wise: a party of soldiers, preceded by a drum and fife, and a municipal officer, marched through all the principal streets, stopping at each corner, when the music ceased, and the officer took off his hat and read the proclamation aloud, while the people thrust out their heads and listened. “We laughed at first at this new mode of publishing the laws, but in the end came to regard it as not a bad idea.
That evening, there being no longer fear of the “facciosos,” we had no difficulty in making up a large riding party for the Laguna de Salinas, distant about four miles from the city, which was represented to us as being lower than lake Nicaragua, salt, and shut in by perpendicular rocks. We followed the “camino real,” in the direction of Leon, for a short distance, and then turned off on a narrow mule path, amongst the trees and bushes. It was very evident that the “caballeros” who accompanied us were determined to show us a specimen of their horsemanship, and rode at breakneck pace, keeping a bright lookout for the trunks and branches of the trees, now bending to their horses’ necks to escape the latter, and now throwing their feet dextrously out of the stirrups, to avoid hitting the former. Thanks to early habits of life, this was no very severe trial to me, and I kept even pace with the rest, to their evident surprise, and the strengthening of their conviction that the Yankees were “up” to everything. We passed, here and there, a cane hut, surrounded by plantain trees, corn-fields, and patches of yucas, over ridges of volcanic scoriæ, covered only with grass, down into ravines with a scramble, and out again with a leap, and in half an hour came to the brink of the lake. I dismounted, and pushed through the trees and bushes to the edge of the precipice, and saw, far down, hundreds of feet below me, the glistening waters of the lake, surrounded on all sides by the same bare, blistered, black walls, with a rim of verdure skirting the water’s edge. Mounting again, we rode a little further, to the sole place of descent, in part natural, but chiefly artificial. A narrow path, half-cut, half-worn, in the rock, wound down before us, something after the manner of the winding stairways in monumental columns, only not so wide. The horses picked their way cautiously, avoiding the loose stones, while the rider had enough to do to prevent his legs from being jammed against the wall of rock on either hand. A man had previously been sent ahead, to see that the way was clear, for there is no turning around in this narrow passage, which no doubt owes its origin to the aborigines, and is hardly wide enough to admit the passage of a horse. This cut passed, we came to a place where the fallen debris and rocks made a kind of shelf or terrace. Here we left our horses, the declivity below being very steep, and the rocks slippery withal, and proceeded on foot,—leaping from one stone to the other, and catching at bushes and saplings to check our descent. We soon came to the shore of the lake, where, beyond a line or belt of bushes, was a narrow beach of fine sand. The water was very clear and limpid, but had a sulphury or yellowish green color where it was deeper, a little distance from the shore. It was slightly salt to the taste, from the minerals held in solution. We observed some small fishes, and were told that there were alligators, but how they got here was a mystery; as I have already said, the lake is surrounded by absolutely precipitous walls of rock, several hundred feet in height, with no practicable descent for man or beast, except at this point. It was evident enough that the lake was of volcanic origin; but in what way formed, was not so clear. The black and frowning rocks seemed to imply that it was an ancient crater; but this conclusion was somewhat shaken by the fact that, from the plain, upon the western side of the lake, rose a conical hill, or small mountain, which had been a volcano, and exhibited a crater. Had the earth sunk suddenly here, during some terrible convulsion of nature? “Quien sabe?” We afterwards found numerous other lakes, equally extraordinary, and some of considerably larger size. This one, called in the aboriginal language, Lendiri, was, I should think, about three miles in circumference.[10] The trees grew to the very edge of the precipice, and vines and creepers hung in waving festoons down its rugged sides; altogether forming an impressive picture. Our appreciation of it was not a little enhanced by the feeling, half of curiosity and half of awe, which every one must experience upon witnessing, for the first time, the terrible effects of volcanic forces, and which no familiarity ever materially weakens.
10. Oviedo (1529) says of this lake, “In the province of Diria is another lake, the water of which is salt, like that of the sea; and the flavor of the fish, which it produces in abundance, is far superior to that of the other fresh water lakes of which I have spoken. It is about a league and a half, or two leagues, from Granada, or Salteba.Salteba.”
We were hot, weary, and thirsty, when we had clambered again to where our horses were fastened, and emptied a flask of “agua ardiente” and water, with which one of the party had considerately supplied himself, in much less time than it takes me to make the confession, and with a satisfaction which I shall not attempt to describe. We returned leisurely, for the shades of evening were falling, and the narrow path was much obscured by the trees. It was late when we reached the city, which had now recovered from the chilling influences of impending danger, and was gay and cheerful. The streets were thronged with noisy children, and the señoras and señoritas were all seated in the doorways or in the balconied windows, in quiet enjoyment of the cool evening breeze, which swung the lamps, suspended in front of each house, slowly to and fro. There seemed to be a sense of the luxury of mere existence among the inhabitants, which the traveller looks for in vain except under the tropics, and which there appears to be in perfect harmony with nature.
We had scarcely entered the main street, when my companions suddenly stopped short, and taking off their hats, turned back again. Without comprehending fully the reason, I did the same. The next moment, however, I heard the tinkling of a bell, and looking around the corner, saw a procession of persons with uncovered heads, each bearing a light, preceded by a boy ringing a bell, who was followed by some men playing on violins, and a guard of soldiers surrounding four persons who supported, with silver rods, a crimson silken canopy, over a priest dressed in his robes, and carrying the host. The children fled to the sides of the street and fell on their knees, as did also all the inhabitants, upon the approach of the procession, which was proceeding to the house of some one dangerously ill, or dying. We stood in the cross street, with uncovered heads, as it passed by. It was only a few years before that a party of foreigners had been torn from their horses and otherwise maltreated, because they did not dismount and kneel on an occasion like this. The people, however, had now become comparatively enlightened and liberal, and exacted nothing beyond a decent respect for their religious notions and ceremonies. It looked rather strangely to see a file of soldiers, with glancing bayonets, surrounding a priest bent on such a mission; but either to insure proper respect, or to show it, the guard is never omitted, if men and muskets are, by any possibility, to be found. Sometimes the priest rides in a lumbering carriage, or is carried in a litter or chair, on men’s shoulders.
That night, until eight o’clock there was a firing of “bombas” in the plaza, and general demonstrations of satisfaction everywhere, to say nothing of great preparations for the morrow, the day announced for the arrival of General Muñoz and his veteranos. Preceding that event, and the recital of what followed, it will not be uninteresting to turn for a moment to the early history of Granada, which was a city grown, long before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, and before Hudson entered the bay of New York.
VIEWS ON THE ROAD TO THE MALACCAS.