The Costa Ricans invade Nicaragua--Second battle of Rivas--The enemy
meet a new foe--Rivas orders an election--Walker a candidate--Treason
of Rivas--Murder of Estrada--Coalition of the Northern States against
Nicaragua--Walker chosen President--Inauguration and recognition by the
United States minister--Tradition of the "Gray-eyed Man."
Walker was less concerned about his enemies in the United States than
those nearer home, though he never committed the mistake of
undervaluing a dangerous foe or the weakness of forgiving him. Three
thousand Costa Ricans had crossed the border and overrun the southern
part of Rivas. It was no time for fever of body or mind. Walker arose
from his bed and summoned his forces to strike a vigorous blow for his
rights. Rivas, the President, was at Leon, watching and waiting; he had
placed the southern departments under martial law, and given absolute
power to the commander-in-chief. Walker no longer opposed the enemy's
march on Rivas, as his object in holding the Transit had been lost with
the withdrawal of the steamers. All the American troops at Rivas and
Virgin Bay were accordingly removed to Granada, with the ostensible
purpose of retreating at once to Leon. When the enemy entered Virgin
Bay they found there only the native inhabitants and a few foreign
_employés_ of the Transit Company. Without a word of warning, they
opened fire on the latter, killing some nine or ten unarmed servants of
Mr. Vanderbilt, and with a zeal for which that gentleman would have
been far from grateful, burned all of the company's property in wharves
and warehouses which they could find. After completing the work of
destruction, they marched to Rivas, where President Mora took up his
abode and cautiously awaited the movements of Walker. The latter kept
his counsel so well that no one knew whether he intended retreating to
Leon or abandoning the country entirely. The latter course seemed the
more probable, as the lake steamer, _San Carlos_, had been for some
days engaged in carrying men and munition across the lake and down the
river to Forts San Carlos and Castillo Viejo. A side light was thrown
on these movements, when Lieutenant Green, with only fifteen men,
surprised a Costa Rica force of two hundred at the mouth of the
Serapiqui, killing twenty-seven of them and putting the rest to flight.
At last on the morning of April 9th, Walker rode out of Granada at the
head of five hundred men, four-fifths of them Americans, and pressed
rapidly southward towards Rivas, where Mora lay encamped with Prussian
von Bulow and three thousand regulars. There were several English,
French, and Germans acting with the Costa Ricans, some as volunteers
and many as mercenaries. At eight o'clock, on the morning of the 11th,
Walker's forces entered Rivas in four detachments by as many different
routes. The order of battle was that of a simultaneous assault, the
several detachments to unite at the centre of the town. It was
faithfully carried out, although the Costa Ricans, soon recovering from
their surprise, behaved gallantly, using their firearms with precision
and coolness, and picking off the American leaders with fatal accuracy.
The combat lasted through four hours. At its termination Walker had
gained possession of the plaza and cathedral, but at a cost of fifty
killed and wounded. About two hundred of the enemy were killed and
twice as many wounded. They were receiving reinforcements, but did not
venture from behind their adobe walls to renew the contest. Setting
fire to the houses near the plaza, they kept up a desultory
sharp-shooting from the adjacent buildings. The Americans improvised a
temporary hospital within the cathedral, whence at daybreak the wounded
were deported, well guarded by their comrades. Mora did not oppose
their departure, being well content to be rid of his troublesome
visitors.
Walker's loss in officers was severe. Early in the fight Colonel
Machado, commanding the native soldiers, fell mortally wounded. Five
captains and six lieutenants also perished, and there were twelve other
officers among the wounded. Of Walker's staff Captain Sutter alone
survived. This mortality was due not more to the marksmanship of the
enemy than to the reckless courage of the victims, who made it a point
of honour to volunteer for every desperate adventure. Ten of them at
one time had charged, armed only with revolvers, on a barricade, whence
they dislodged over a hundred of the enemy's riflemen.
By this time the aspect of affairs had changed materially, and the
situation of the invading army had become extremely perilous. The
Legitimists, whom Mora had expected to unite with him in expelling the
American usurpers, he found to be few and faint of heart, while the
wanton insolence of his own men had tended to alienate whatever of
sympathy they might have found among the poorer classes. In a word, the
repulse of Walker at Rivas, if that can be called a repulse which was
an unhindered withdrawal, was to Mora the signal of defeat. Unable to
conquer an enemy of one-sixth his strength, and not daring to lessen
his odds in the hazard of a pitched battle--much less in a siege of
Granada--he lay at Rivas exhausted and impotent. It needed but one
other enemy to complete his overthrow. That enemy, always a potent one
beneath the tropic sun, appeared.
The bodies of two hundred Costa Ricans had been thrust heedlessly into
the vaults and wells of Rivas, along with some fifty dead filibusters.
Hundreds more lay in the wretched hospitals, with festering wounds and
scant nursing. Cleanliness and good living did not distinguish the
Costa Rican soldier. A strict discipline was maintained, but one day an
Enemy passed the outpost, unchallenged of the watchful sentinel. The
patrol crying "Alerté!" was stricken dead by a silent hand. The soldier
at the _monte_ table, the officer in his hammock, the camp follower in
the slums, and the staff-officer in the palace--all ages, all ranks,
all valour succumbed before the dread foe. The Cholera was in Rivas,
that malady more terrible than a legion of filibusters. With the
cholera, desertion. President Mora set the example, news of trouble at
home hastening his flight southward. General Cañas remained in command
until he heard of the arrival at Granada of some hundreds of recruits,
whom the veteran Hornsby had gathered in the United States and brought
to the country by way of the river San Juan.
Anticipating justly that Walker would soon resume an offensive
attitude, Cañas hastily abandoned his wounded and fled to Guanacaste.
The march thither was long and painful; the fugitives could be traced
for leagues by the bones of their dead comrades. Whom the cholera
struck down no brotherly hand stayed to lift up. About five hundred
worn stragglers entered Costa Rica, the remnant of the gallant host
that had marched forth to drive the filibusters into the sea. With them
they carried the seeds of the pestilence, which being sown broadcast in
the country, swept off ten thousand of its inhabitants.
Nor was Walker exempt from trouble during this period. Many of his most
cherished friends were carried off by the plague, among others his
young brother, James, whom he loved, in his undemonstrative way, very
tenderly. The condition of political affairs was unsatisfactory.
President Rivas, who had remained with his cabinet at Leon, seems to
have dreaded an invasion from the North more than he did that of the
Costa Ricans. He was a weak man, easily played upon by designing
persons who had succeeded in imbuing him with a jealousy of Walker,
which, so far at least, was entirely groundless. The northeastern
districts of the State had been for some time harassed by roving bands
of freebooters, pretended and real Legitimists, whose depredations
became a serious annoyance. Against these guerillas Walker sent a body
of cavalry, under Domingo Goicouria, who speedily restored order in the
district.[1]
[1] Goicouria was a devoted Cuban patriot, who was executed
many years afterwards by the Spaniards at Havana.
An election for President held in May had been conducted with such
irregularity that it was decided by President Rivas to order one to be
held anew in June. In this decision the opposing candidates, Salazar
and Jerez, acquiesced. Both of them were, like Rivas, of the Leonese,
or Liberal party; so the Granadinos, or Legitimists, dreading the
influence of their rivals, cast about them for a strong candidate to
represent their interests. No Legitimist of sufficient popularity being
available, they chose Walker, preferring a neutral foreigner to a
hostile countryman. It was therefore understood, in political parlance,
that Walker was the "first choice" of the still powerful Legitimist
party. The effect was at once to unite the opposing Leonese leaders.
Rivas, supported by Salazar and Jerez, delayed issuing the call for a
new election, and entertained with favour the suggestion that the
American auxiliaries be reduced to the number of two hundred, at the
very time when that number of new recruits were disembarking from the
California steamer. The steamers had resumed their trips under the
management of a company favourable to "immigration."
Walker proceeded to Leon to confer with Rivas, receiving on the way a
popular ovation which encouraged him to maintain his rights with
firmness. To the proposition of disbanding his forces he replied that
the men were ready to leave the country as soon as they should receive
their stipulated pay, a claim which he knew that the Government
exchequer was in no condition to defray. Not to embarrass the resources
of the republic, however, he arrested Don Salazar on a charge of having
defrauded the Government of the duties upon some valuable Brazil wood,
and of having sold the same wood to the Government, with a profit to
himself seldom overlooked by contractors. The act was an offence
against an old and seldom enforced law of the country. The arrest was
doubtless meant to warn Salazar that he could not conspire with
impunity against his vigilant ally, as he was not immediately brought
to trial. Rivas, Jerez, and Salazar now decided to pronounce against
their formidable rival, but with smooth duplicity they concealed their
design, the President, on the 10th of June, issuing a decree for a
general election to take place on the fourth Sunday of the month. Next
day Walker departed for Granada, and Rivas and Salazar immediately fled
from Leon, proclaiming that Walker was a traitor. They took refuge in
Guatemala, where General Carrera was preparing a force with which to
invade Nicaragua.
Walker, as general in chief of a state disturbed by a revolution within
and threatened with invasion from without, was, of course, the head
of the government in the absence of the civil ruler. At least, there
was nobody to dispute that proposition. He accordingly appointed a
provisional director, Don Firmin Ferrer, pending the election which was
to occur in a few weeks.
In the election, when it was held, all the districts took part except
the northeastern, which was disturbed by the presence of an invading
army on its border and two pretenders to the presidency within its
precincts. One of them was Rivas; the other the almost forgotten
Legitimist puppet of Corral, Don Jose Estrada. Estrada did little of an
official character save issue proclamations which nobody heeded; still,
as a pretender is always a potential element in monarchy or republic,
whom a cunning invader might use to his own advantage, the partisans of
Rivas feared to leave to Carrera that poor excuse for betraying their
interests. Estrada was murdered in cold blood by a band of ruffians
from Leon. With him perished the last of the strictly Legitimist
claimants. To insure further their personal interests, Rivas and his
friends appointed General Ramon Belloso commander-in-chief of the army
of invasion. The allied forces were from Guatemala, Honduras, and San
Salvador, and it was from the last and smallest state that it was
deemed wise to choose the commander, as the one least likely or able to
usurp power after victory.
The lack of representation in the election of the northeastern district
was of little consequence, as it was the least populous part of the
state, and its vote would have had no influence to change the result.
The voting was entirely free and unaccompanied by disturbance. In
Nicaragua every male inhabitant over eighteen years old, criminals
excepted, is entitled to the suffrage. Representatives, senators, and
president, are all chosen by a college of electors who are themselves
elected by popular vote. Such, at least, was the law at this period.
When the votes were counted it was found that 23,236 ballots had been
cast, of which Walker had received more than twice as many as all his
rivals, viz., 15,835, Rivas having 867, Salazar 2,087, and Ferrer
4,447. Walker was accordingly declared elected and, on the 12th of
July, 1856, he was formally inaugurated President of Nicaragua. It is
worth noting that he was chosen by the largest vote ever polled in the
country, and that his actual tenure of office was longer than that of
any of his predecessors in the presidency with the exception of two,
Pineda and Chamorro. The former held office for four months--the latter
for one month--longer than did Walker. In six years there had been no
less than fifteen presidents inaugurated. Reform, even through
filibusterism, was sadly needed in Nicaragua.
So far as legality was concerned, Walker's title was as sound as that
of any prince or president in the world. It only remained for the world
to acknowledge it. The first recognition came, unwittingly enough, from
his enemy, Secretary Marcy. That statesman, after much consideration of
the case, had sent instructions to the United States minister, Colonel
Wheeler, whose suspension had been but temporary, to recognize the
existing government of Nicaragua, under the supposition that the Rivas
administration still held office. Thus much had been conceded to the
reasonable demands of Padre Vijil. Mr. Wheeler, with a possible
appreciation of the humour of the situation, yet with a strict
obedience to the letter of his instructions, thereupon tendered to
President Walker the good wishes and felicitations of the United States
Government. But Mr. Marcy never forgave the instrument of his blunder,
and one of his last official acts was to beg of President Pierce, as a
personal favour, the dismissal of Minister Wheeler, a request which the
dying administration was weak enough to grant.
We now behold Walker at the zenith of his fame, the lawful ruler of a
country whose position and resources made it a prize worth the ambition
of all Europe and America to possess. Besides a powerful native party,
he had an army of his countrymen at his back numbering over a thousand
men, a line of steamers under his control--for the California agents of
the Transit Company were his friends as long as their interests and his
were the same--and a strong party in the United States in sympathy with
his cherished project for the extension of slavery. The tradition
vouched for by Crowe in his "Gospel in Central America," as current
among the Indians of Nicaragua--"that a grey-eyed man would come from
the far North to overturn the Spanish domination and regenerate the
native race"--seemed likely to be confirmed, in part, at least.
The ceremony of inaugurating the new President was performed with great
pomp at the capital on the 12th of July. The acting provisional
director, Don Firmin Ferrer, administered the oath of office, Walker
kneeling to make the solemn affirmation. The President-elect was
dressed in his customary civilian costume of decorous black, in manner
and attire a striking contrast to the gaily decked natives who flocked
to the ceremony. The inauguration was celebrated on a large staging
erected in the plaza, which was festooned with the flags of Nicaragua,
the United States, France, and the unborn republic of Cuba. The text of
the oath which Ferrer administered, with a highly eulogistic address,
was as follows:
"You solemnly promise and swear to govern the free Republic of
Nicaragua, and sustain its independent and territorial integrity with
all your power, and to execute justice according to the principles of
republicanism and religion."
"I promise and swear."
"You promise and swear, whenever it may be in your power, to maintain
the law of God, the true profession of the Evangelists, and the
religion of the Crucifixion."
"I promise and swear."
"In the name of God and the sainted Evangelists, you swear to comply
with these obligations and to make it your constant guard to fulfil all
that is herein promised."
"I swear."
"And for this the succession is committed to you firmly, by these
presents, by authority of the Secretary of the Government charged with
the general despatches."
At the end of this ceremony Walker delivered an inaugural address of
the usual character pertaining to such prosaic compositions. The
President was not without hopes of establishing friendly relations with
the Great Powers, and among his first acts was the sending of ministers
to England and France. The envoys either never reached the fields of
their missions or failed to receive official recognition, as the
Blue-books of those governments make no mention of diplomatic
intercourse between the filibuster cabinet and their own. The nations
of Europe, in their blind jealousy of American influence, would not, or
could not, understand that the aims of Walker were, if successful,
likely to prove an unsurmountable obstacle to the very American
expansion which they feared. To build up a strong confederacy of slave
states, which should antagonize the powerful free states of the North,
was the prime, if not the sole, object which won for Walker the
sympathy and aid of the Southern States. By opposing and frustrating
this scheme, Great Britain unwittingly lent herself to the service of
the party of union in the United States, thereby weakening the cause
which she afterwards favoured, of Southern secession.
The shrewd English observer, Laurence Oliphant, writing, in 1860, his
personal recollections of "Patriots and Filibusters," shows the mistake
into which his Government fell, as he frankly says, through "no mere
considerations of morality," but through a mistaken notion of
self-interest. Walker never intended that Central America should become
a part of the Union. Like Aaron Burr, he wished to keep all the fruits
of conquest for his personal glory and aggrandisement; but he was
sincere in representing to his countrymen that the effects of
establishing a powerful slave empire south of the United States would
be of incalculable advantage to the pro-slavery party at home.