Filibusterism abroad--Kinney's Expedition--The Filibusters and their
allies--An aristocracy of leather--Pierce and Marcy--A rupture with
the United States--Costa Rica declares war--Schlessinger's fiasco--
Cosmopolitan adventurers--Steamers withdrawn--History of the Transit
Company--Vanderbilt plans vengeance--The printing-press on the
field.
In the United States, particularly in California, Walker's amazing
success gave an impulse to filibustering of a different, because more
sanguine, nature from that produced by the first expeditions of Lopez
to Cuba. France and England also awoke to behold with dismay this
solution of the Central American problem. Not less alarmed was the
Conservative element in Spanish America, the more reactionary part of
which talked wildly of calling in a European protectorate and of
breaking off commercial intercourse with the North Americans. Mexico,
Cuba, Ecuador, and Central America were threatened by invading
expeditions, while Nicaragua was made the objective point of an actual
invasion from the Atlantic coast. It will be remembered that the
Mosquito king's grant to the Shepards had been transferred to a
colonization company in the United States; upon the strength of which
Henry L. Kinney, of Philadelphia, proceeded to occupy his property. But
there were many difficulties in the way. The grant had been revoked by
his Majesty in a lucid interval. Great Britain, as guardian of the
kingdom, repudiated the contract. Nicaragua steadily declined to
recognize the rights of either party to her territory; and, to complete
the adventurer's misfortune, the Federal authorities arrested him when
about to lead his first detachment of colonists to his tropical
possessions. Not to rehearse the tedious litigation which followed, it
suffices to say that the Kinney Expedition, having succeeded in
embarking, was shortly afterwards wrecked on Turk's Island, finally
reaching San Juan del Norte in a most forlorn plight. There new
misfortunes overtook them. Most of the military colonists sailed up the
river to share the more promising fortunes of Walker, to whom Kinney
himself, despairing of success unaided, at last made overtures for an
alliance offensive and defensive. But the messenger found Walker firmly
entrenched in power and, as a member of the government, bound to
consider all foreign claims on the Mosquito coast as mere usurpations.
Had it been otherwise, he might perhaps have returned a less peremptory
answer than the brief threat: "Tell Mr. Kinney, or Colonel Kinney, or
whatever he calls himself, that if I find him on Nicaraguan soil, I
will most assuredly hang him." The new element in Nicaragua did not
fail to uphold the sovereign independence of the country with zeal,
even if it may have sometimes lacked discretion. Walker was a stickler
for dignity, and never failed to exact the respect due to himself, his
office, and his flag. An English merchant, of Realejo, who had resisted
a Government levy, and, with the sublime assurance of his race, had
hoisted the Union Jack over his house, was caustically invited by
Walker to lower the emblem or produce his Government's license to
display the flag of a representative. "If he refuses," said Walker,
"tear it down, trample it under foot, and put the fellow in irons." The
Englishman knew enough of law to see that he had no authority for the
display of bunting, which he accordingly furled, paid the requisition,
and cursed the Yankee lawyer who had taught him a lesson. Walker was
versed in the law of nations, but he unfortunately overlooked the fact
that those wise statutes are framed for the control of strong nations
dealing with their peers. It is not enough to be right, or to know
one's rights, unless the power to maintain them accompany the
knowledge. A touch of the lawyer's weakness for technical rights always
marked this curious outlaw.
In the dazzling success of the Falange, the disasters of Kinney were
forgotten, and many a band of hardy adventurers was tempted to rival
their deeds. For a time it seemed as though the spirit of the Vikings
had been revived in the land discovered by Eric the Red. On the Pacific
coast those incursions sometimes assumed, as we have seen, formidable
proportions. Sonora, Arizona, Lower California, and even the Sandwich
Islands, were the various goals of ambitious adventurers, some of whom
never carried their schemes into effect; others, like Colonel Crabbe,
made a really imposing campaign for a brief space, only to die
fruitless deaths.
The filibusters were by no means impelled to risk life and liberty
through an abstract love of freedom or disinterested affection for
their oppressed allies. They were, on the contrary, rather prone to
turn to their own advantage the fruits of hard-won victory. Their
extenuation lies in the worthless character of their allies, who
invariably deserted them in extremity, and left the foreigner to save
himself. It was so in Cuba, in Sonora, in Nicaragua, though there were
honourable exceptions everywhere. A contempt and mistrust of the native
character, often but ill-concealed, did not serve to make the alliance
any more sincere. In Nicaragua, for the present at least, gratitude
was stronger than prejudice, and the party favouring the Americans
was powerful and enthusiastic. The common people remained faithful
throughout; it was the _calzados_, the middle and upper classes
composing the Conservative party, who hated the foreigner because they
felt his superiority, and his still more galling consciousness thereof.
The _calzados_ were those who wore shoes, as distinguished from the
barefoot rabble. Aristocracy, based on such transcendent merit, is
naturally jealous of its prerogatives.
Almost every steamer from California brought down a squad, greater or
less, of recruits. Amongst the earliest was a brother of the Achilles
Kewen killed at the first battle of Rivas. E. J. C. Kewen was one of
the most valuable of Walker's staff, on which he served throughout the
war. Quite characteristic of the time and place is the matter-of-fact
way in which the San Francisco papers state that Colonel Kewen
participated as second in a duel at that place on the day preceding his
departure for Nicaragua. Business before pleasure.
During the four months which followed the formation of the new
government, Walker gathered about him a force of Americans and other
foreigners numbering twelve hundred. They came from all parts of the
Union, but chiefly from the Southern and Pacific states. Recruiting
offices were opened in San Francisco, whose agents penetrated the
mining camps and interior towns, unnoticed or unhindered by the
Government authorities. Whenever any opposition was offered, the
volunteers frequently bought through tickets to New York, and stopped
at Nicaragua to enjoy a little filibustering. In the east more
stringent precautions were taken by the authorities, though without
much effect, as the colonists were responding to the invitation of the
Nicaraguan Government, and could not be legally hindered.
Among the adventurers were many idle and desperate characters attracted
by visions of beauty and booty, with the broad license of a
freebooter's camp. To such the reality proved a terrible revelation;
they found, instead of a free lance's easy discipline, a system of
military government emulating in its stringent laws that of the great
Frederick. Walker's abstemiousness was supplemented by the virtue, much
rarer in men of his class, of absolute personal chastity in thought,
word, and deed. Drunkenness, debauchery, and profanity were vices which
he abhorred. The man who was detected selling liquor to a soldier was
punished by a fine of 250 dollars; the drunkard was sent to the
guard-house for ten days. With whisky of a vile quality selling at two
dollars and a half a bottle, and the terrors of punishment before the
eyes of both buyer and seller, drunkenness was rare in Granada. On the
outposts discipline was more lax, officers and men availing themselves
of secrecy to evade their general's stern commands. The well-behaved,
on the other hand, were treated with the greatest favour, receiving
their regular pay of a hundred dollars a month, according to some--a
quarter of that sum, according to others--and a contingent title to
five hundred acres of land.
The assurance of peace alone was needed to make Nicaragua, the
veritable "Mahomet's Paradise" which its discoverers had named it. But
there was no such assurance or prospect in view. Even had Walker been
willing to rest content with his present wonderful success, he would
not have been permitted so to curb his ambition. His enemies were too
many and too powerful and implacable. Great Britain, which had been
trespassing, secretly or openly, for half a century, on the rights of
the weak Spanish-American republics, could not allow so rich a prize to
pass into the hands of the hated "Yankee." Money, men, and arms were
furnished to the neighbouring states, and every pretext was made use of
to stir up a crusade against the Americans.
Enemies as bitter, though less powerful to injure openly, influenced
the administration at Washington. The Secretary of State, William L.
Marcy, was a politician who is best remembered by his enunciation of
the notorious political maxim, "To the victors belong the spoils."
Marcy had no personal ill-will towards Walker or his political friends;
he was not the man to indulge a wanton grudge, but he carried into the
great office which he filled the aims, sympathies, prejudices, and
alliances of a thorough politician. To him the traditions of his
country, the dignity of his high position, the honour of the republic
were secondary ideas. What his party would say, how his acts would be
criticized at Albany or on Wall Street, these were the thoughts which
swayed his mind and governed his conduct. Like master, like man,
Franklin Pierce was mentally as small as his secretary. So when a
minister plenipotentiary from Nicaragua presented his credentials at
Washington, and the other resident ministers protested against his
being received, a terrible consternation fell upon the minds of
President and Secretary. Mr. Marcolletta, the former minister, though
recalled by the Government of Nicaragua, stoutly refused to resign. The
other foreign ministers espoused his cause, and the secretary had the
amazing stupidity to argue the case gravely with those officious
gentlemen. Colonel Wheeler, the minister to Nicaragua, being appealed
to, confirmed the _de facto_ and _de jure_ claims of the Rivas
Government, adding, as a proof of the country's tranquillity, the
striking fact, that "not a single prisoner, for any offence, is now
confined in the Republic--a circumstance unknown before in the
country."
Mr. Marcy had now no choice but to acknowledge the credentials of the
new representative, when the discovery of a grave blunder of Walker's
saved him the humiliation. No official objection could be urged against
the minister, but unfortunately for him, there were pronounced personal
objections strong enough to warrant the district attorney of New York
in ordering his arrest on a criminal process. The individual, Parker H.
French, was the same one-armed hero whose fiasco before Fort San Carlos
had brought the Falange into disrepute and provoked the Virgin Bay
massacre. Walker discovered when too late the unworthy antecedents of
his envoy, whose conduct in Nicaragua should have been enough to
disqualify him; but regarding his arrest as a violation of diplomatic
privilege, he had him recalled, dismissed the American minister to
Nicaragua, and suspended diplomatic intercourse with the United States.
Some months later, and after the United States had declined to receive
a second minister, Don Firmin Ferrer, Walker sent a third
representative, in the person of the good Padre Vijil, who proved
acceptable at Washington, as much on account of his high character as
for the news which he brought with him, that Walker had routed his
Costa Rica enemies, and frightened back the Serviles of the North.
Franklin Pierce was not the man to turn his back upon a friend in
prosperity, though his good will was not shared by Mr. Marcy. The
Nicaraguan minister was received in form, but met with such studied
discourtesy from the Secretary of State and his underlings that the
cultured and amiable gentleman was glad to return, after a brief
sojourn, to the better-mannered society of Nicaragua.
But the fickle conduct of President Pierce and his cabinet had exposed
the weak joint in Walker's armour to his quick-eyed enemies in Central
America and in Europe. The filibuster, so far from having the support
of his native country, was apparently without a friend there. English
consuls and men-of-war captains saw that they might crush out with
impunity this adventurer and restore the supremacy of European
influence on the isthmus. All the Servile partisans in the neighbouring
states and the disaffected Legitimists of Nicaragua united to expel the
foreign element. The Costa Rican consul-general in London wrote to his
President, Don Juan Rafael Mora, in a letter which fell into Walker's
hands, that the British Government would sell to Costa Rica two
thousand army muskets, at a nominal price, for the purpose of "kicking
Walker and his associates out of Nicaragua." British friendship was not
purely disinterested nor did it proceed solely from hatred of
Americans. Seventeen million dollars invested by English capitalists in
Costa Rican bonds were the substantial basis of that interest. It is
painful to reflect upon the fact that those bonds were afterwards
defaulted to the last dollar.
A deputation sent from Nicaragua to negotiate a treaty of peace with
Costa Rica was ignominiously expelled the latter country. Guatemala,
San Salvador, and Honduras also declined to recognize the new
administration.
On the 26th of February, 1856, Costa Rica declared war against
Nicaragua, for the expressed purpose of driving the foreign invaders
from the soil of Central America. Distant Peru sympathized with the
crusaders by advancing a loan of $150,000 to aid the righteous
campaign. President Mora at once collected a force of nine thousand
men, and prepared to march on Guanacaste. A counter declaration of war
was immediately issued by President Rivas. Walker, as general-in-chief,
summoned his men to meet him on the plaza of Granada, and, having had
the proclamation of hostilities read to them, made a stirring address,
concluding with a peroration well suited to his hearers: "We have sent
them the olive branch; they have sent us back the knife. Be it so. We
shall give them war to the knife, and the knife to the hilt."
Unfortunately the officer chosen to lead the advance on Costa Rica
proved to be a knife more dangerous to the hand which held than to the
breast before it. Colonel Louis Schlessinger was given the command,
partly by way of compensation for the ill-treatment which he had
received from the Costa Ricans when he went thither as one of the peace
commissioners. Another of the commissioners named Arguello had deserted
to the enemy. The third, Captain W. A. Sutter, son of the famous
discoverer of gold in California, alone showed himself possessed of
ability and honesty. Walker was not happy in his choice of civil
officers, but it must be remembered that the supply of such material
was limited. Heaven-inspired statesmen do not flock to the support of a
cause so dangerous and unpromising as his.
If Schlessinger was a poor diplomat, he was a worse soldier. Starting
with a force of two hundred men, he crossed the border of Guanacaste on
the 19th of March. Five companies, of forty men each, had been divided,
according to their nationalities or origin, into a French company,
under Captain Legaye, a German under Prange, a New Orleans under
Thorpe, a New York under Creighton, and a Californian under Rudler. The
American companies comprised men of every English-speaking nation,
"blown from the four parts of the earth." This division, which a
skilful commander might have turned to account by exciting a generous
rivalry, was but a source of weakness in the hands of the incapable
Schlessinger, himself a foreigner and little popular with his men.
Their first and only engagement occurred at the Hacienda of Santa Rosa,
twelve miles within the boundary of Guanacaste. Schlessinger allowed
himself to be surprised, the enemy under a skilful officer, the
Prussian Baron von Bulow, attacking him with a force of five hundred
regulars, and winning an easy victory. Schlessinger did not even make a
show of resistance, but ran away at the first shot, followed by the
German and French companies. Captain Rudler and Major O'Neill made a
brave stand with the New York and California companies, until some
fifty of their command were killed, when the survivors made the best of
their way off the field and across the border. Only a poor drummer-boy
remained beating his drum with childish glee until shot down at his
post. The wounded and the prisoners were all put to death by order of
President Mora, who had proclaimed no quarter to every filibuster taken
in arms. So ended the battle of Santa Rosa, on the 20th of March.
Schlessinger was court-martialed on his return, found guilty of
cowardice, and sentenced to death, but he escaped punishment by
breaking his parole during the trial and fleeing to Costa Rica. More
than twenty years afterwards he reappears in the courts of that
country, claiming reward for the service rendered the state on the
occasion just narrated.
The heterogeneous character of the filibusters, even at this early
date, may be seen from a list of the prisoners butchered after the
battle of Santa Rosa, of whom six were natives of the United States,
three of Ireland, three of Germany, one of Italy, one of Corfu, one of
Samos, one of France, two of Prussia, and one of Panama.
So unexpected was the rout that the victors, fearing a ruse, did not
pursue their advantage. The demoralized fugitives returned in
straggling parties, some without arms, some in rags, and all
crest-fallen and disgraced. To cover their shame they exaggerated the
numbers and prowess of the enemy, who, indeed, had behaved with great
skill and courage, proving a formidable foe when well led.
For some days a panic prevailed in the Democratic headquarters. Matters
were in a critical condition. The Legitimists in the State, always
secretly disaffected, hastened to spread the news of the defeat among
their friends in the North. Honduras and the neighbouring republics
grew firmer in their refusal to recognize the Rivas Government, and
Guardiola began to mass his savage troops on the border of Leon. The
demoralization spread among the Americans themselves. Faint-hearted
officers, erstwhile thirsting for glory, suddenly began to long for a
return home, and to send in applications for furlough. Walker lay
tossing on a bed of fever, the while his enemies conspired against him
and fair-weather friends deserted him. But he had many a stout heart
among his trusty veterans, men who welcomed danger as a gambler courts
his risks, and who bade good-bye to their shrinking comrades with a
fine scorn worthy of Pizarro's old lieutenant, Carvajal, who sang:
"The wind blows the hairs off my head, mother--
Two by two it blows them away."
Another misfortune at this moment overtook the adventurers. The
steamers of the Transit Company were suddenly withdrawn, and all
communication with California was suspended. Though it stopped
desertion, this isolation also cut off the coming of recruits. This
action of the company was the result of a misunderstanding of long
date. By the terms of its charter it was bound to pay to the Government
of Nicaragua ten thousand dollars annually, and ten per cent. of its
net profits. The company claimed, and the Government denied, that the
ten thousand dollars had been paid with some regularity; but by a
process of book-keeping, well known to financiers, the accounts never
showed a balance of net profit upon which to levy the additional tithe.
Against this deception the weak and ephemeral administrations of
Nicaragua had at times feebly protested. The agents of the company
bullied, deceived, or bribed them into silence, and went on reaping a
golden harvest, until the installation of the Rivas administration.
Cornelius Vanderbilt was then managing the company's affairs in New
York, while its Western business was conducted by Morgan and Garrison
at San Francisco. Vanderbilt, a man of boundless ambition and no weak
scruples, soon made himself master of the company's resources.
Nicaragua had never challenged the Wall Street autocrat until Walker
took the country's affairs in hand. One of his first steps was the
appointment of a commission to examine the Transit Company's books. The
commission reported that the Government had been defrauded flagrantly
and systematically for years, and that a balance, amounting to over
$250,000 was lawfully due to it. Vanderbilt peremptorily declined
either to acknowledge or liquidate the debt, repeating the vague
threats with which he had been used to awe the little officials of
former days.
Thereupon the ex-lawyer of California simply directed the authorities
to seize the company's property as security, revoking at the same time
the old charter and granting a new one to Messrs. Randolph and
Crittenden. This occurred on the 18th of February. The last act of the
old company had been the transportation of two hundred and fifty
recruits from San Francisco, the draft for whose passage money was paid
by Vanderbilt, some days afterwards, while he was yet ignorant of the
sequestration of his property. The Wall Street dictator was very angry,
but bided his time and quietly despatched a draft for a much larger
sum, payable to the order of Juan Rafael Mora, President of Costa Rica.
He then made a formal protest and appeal to Secretary Marcy, invoking
the help of the United States. Marcy, however, was too old a politician
to identify himself openly with the unsavoury interests of the Transit
Company, a corporation whose history is summed up by Minister Squier,
as "an infamous career of deception and fraud." He quieted his friend
Vanderbilt with promises which were only too well kept. The vengeance
of the money king was not contented with abetting Walker's enemies.
Nothing short of the filibuster's ruin would suffice to soothe the
wounded pride of Vanderbilt. The man of millions was no mean power in
affairs commercial and political at home. When he undertook to use his
resources against an almost penniless adventurer abroad, the might of
money proved to be all but omnipotent.
In December Kewen was sent to California to dispose of a million
dollars' worth of the bonds of the State of Nicaragua. He was
instructed to sell no bonds below a minimum of ninety per cent. of the
face value, and it does not appear that he did dispose of any below
that price--few, indeed, at or above it.
Another feature of a stable government appeared about this time. In
the early Spanish invasions the outward adjuncts of religion always
followed in the wake of the army. It was in keeping with the changed
condition of affairs that the printing-press should accompany the
filibuster. Two newspapers were already in full play in Nicaragua, _El
Nicaraguense_, of Granada, and the _Herald_, of Masaya. The editors and
printers of Nicaragua were not strictly men of peace, but were wont,
when occasion served, to exchange the pen for the sword. On this
account their war despatches ought to have been most authentic, being
commonly written and published on the field. John Tabor, the editor and
proprietor of _El Nicaraguense_, was twice wounded in the pursuit of
his novel duties, but lived to accompany Walker on his second invasion,
in 1857, when, alas! his ready press was not called upon to chronicle
any glorious victories.