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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43634 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustration and map.
+      See 43634-h.htm or 43634-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43634/43634-h/43634-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43634/43634-h.zip)
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+      Text enclosed by tilde characters is in bold face (~bold~).
+
+
+
+
+
+BY-WAYS OF WAR
+
+by
+
+JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE
+
+Her Majesty the King, A Romance of the Harem,
+The V-A-S-E, and Other Bric-A-Brac
+
+[Illustration: Wm. Walker]
+
+
+BY-WAYS OF WAR
+
+The Story of the Filibusters
+
+by
+
+JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Boston
+Small, Maynard & Company
+1901
+
+Copyright, 1891, 1901,
+by
+James Jeffrey Roche
+
+Riggs Printing and Publishing Co.
+Albany, U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+    "_So much the leaded dice of war
+    Do make or mar of character._"
+
+    JOAQUIN MILLER.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF THE REPUBLIC OF NICARAGUA 1850-1860]
+
+[Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF CENTRAL AMERICA at the time of the
+FILIBUSTERS]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+_The rise and fall of the American Filibusters belong to the history
+of the Nineteenth Century. From time to time their deeds have been
+recounted by actors in the stirring scenes, by contemporary observers,
+and, incidentally, by travellers in Spanish America who lingered for a
+moment over the romantic legend of the modern Vikings._
+
+_Among the works consulted in the preparation of this volume are: "A
+History of Miranda's Attempt to Effect a Revolution in South America,"
+by one of his officers; Yokum's "History of Texas"; Green's narrative
+of the Mier Expedition, and Kendall's of that to Santa Fe; Henri de la
+Madelaine's "Life of Raoussett-Boulbon"; Wells' account of Walker's
+expeditions to Sonora and Nicaragua; Walker's "History of the War in
+Nicaragua"; and the several works relating to the latter country of
+Squier, Scherzer, Stout, Captain Pim, Chevalier Belly, M. Nicaisse,
+and many other travellers._
+
+_From such sources, as well as from the periodicals and official
+documents of the day, and from the lips or pens of living comrades in
+the more recent of those tragedies, have been gathered the facts told
+in the following pages. It has been no easy task to sift the grains of
+truth from the mountain of myth, prejudice, and fiction under which
+the actual deeds of the Filibusters long lay buried._
+
+_Forty years ago it would have been well-nigh impossible, in the
+heated atmosphere of the slavery conflict, to view such a subject with
+philosophical impartiality. To-day we may study the Filibuster
+dispassionately, for he belongs to an extinct species. The speculator
+has supplanted him without perceptibly improving the morality of the
+world. Even the word "filibuster," transformed to a verb, is degraded
+to the base uses of politics. It is time to write the history and the
+epitaph of the brave, lawless, generous anomaly on civilization._
+
+    Boston, November, 1900.
+    J. J. R.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                 PAGE
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Etymology of the word Filibuster--Norse Adventurers--The Buccaneers
+--Miranda--Services under the Directory--First Expedition from the
+United States--Dr. Jenner and the King of Spain--Miranda's second
+expedition and death,                                               1
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Aaron Burr--The McGregor and his kingdoms--Mina's expedition and
+fate--The Alamo massacre--Travis, Bowie, and Crockett--The tragedy
+of Goliad--Houston and Santa Ana--Victory of San Jacinto--The Santa
+Fe and Mier expeditions,                                           12
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The Lopez Expedition--Landing at Cardenas--Pickett's Fight--An
+Exciting Chase--Last Expedition--Execution of Lopez and
+Crittenden,                                                        34
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+The Count Raoussett-Boulbon--A father "de la vieille roche"--
+Raoussett's contract to garrison Sonora--Proclamations and
+pronunciamientos--Battle of Hermosillo--Negotiations with Santa
+Ana--Expedition to Guaymas--Engagement and defeat--Last words of
+a noble adventurer--Death of the Count,                            42
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+William Walker--Boyhood and education--Doctor, Lawyer, Journalist
+--Goes to California--Personal appearance and characteristics--
+Departure of the Sonora Expedition--A government proclaimed--Stern
+discipline--Retreat from Sonora--Bad news at San Vincente--The
+adventurers cross the boundary--Walker resumes the pen,            56
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Nicaragua--"Mahomet's Paradise"--Buccaneering visitors--Philip II.
+and Isthmian canal--Nelson defeated by a girl--The apocryphal
+heroine of San Carlos,                                             73
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+British intrigues on the Isthmus--Morazan and the Confederacy--The
+Mosquito Dynasty--Bombardment of San Juan--Castellon calls in the
+foreigner--Doubleday and his free lances--Cole's contract approved
+by Walker,                                                         81
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Purchase of the _Vesta_--May 4th, 1855, sailing of the "Immortal
+Fifty-six"--The American Phalanx--First battle of Rivas--Punishing
+a desperado--Trouble in Castellon's Cabinet--Battle at Virgin Bay
+--Death of Castellon.                                              93
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+A Servile victory in the North--Walker in the enemy's stronghold--
+Negotiations for peace--Execution of Mayorga--Rivas chosen
+Provisional Director--Corral's treason and punishment--Newspaper
+history,                                                          108
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+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,                       117
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+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,"                                                  133
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+Administration of President Walker--The Allies advance towards
+Granada--Naval victory--Review of the filibuster army--Filibusters
+and their allies--Assault on Masaya--Civil government--The slavery
+decree--Antiquated logic                                          146
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Henningsen--Early service with Zumalacarregui--Campaigning with the
+Prophet of the Caucasus--Joins Kossuth--Arrival in America--Omotepe
+--A Gallant defence--Watters carries the barricades,              159
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Vanderbilt joins issue--Titus outwitted--Siege of Rivas--Death in
+the Falange--Desertion--Captain Fayssoux and Sir Robert McClure
+--Battle of San Jorge--Allies assault Rivas--Famine and devotion
+--Commander Davis as a peacemaker,                                170
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Ultimatum of Commander Davis--Evacuation of Rivas--Statistics of
+the campaign--Henningsen's opinion of his men--Characteristic
+anecdotes--Frederick Ward--A filibuster's apotheosis,             185
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+Walker returns to the United States--Crabbe's expedition--Renewed
+attempts of Walker--The expedition to San Juan del Norte,         202
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+Walker's "History of the War"--Lands at Ruatan and takes Trujillo
+--Retreats before the English forces--Surrender--Trial and execution
+of the last of the Filibusters,                                   215
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+Character of Walker--A private's devotion--Anecdote--After fate of
+the filibusters--Henningsen's epitaph--Last Cuban expedition--The
+_Virginius_ tragedy--An Englishman to the rescue--Finis,          227
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Etymology of the word Filibuster--Norse Adventurers--The Buccaneers
+--Miranda--Services under the Directory--First Expedition from the
+United States--Dr. Jenner and the King of Spain--Miranda's second
+expedition and death.
+
+
+The difference between a filibuster and a freebooter is one of ends
+rather than of means. Some authorities say that the words have a
+common etymology; but others, including Charlevoix, maintain that the
+filibuster derived his name from his original occupation, that of a
+cruiser in a "flibote," or "Vly-boat," first used on the river Vly, in
+Holland. Yet another writer says that the name was first given to the
+gallant followers of Dominique de Gourgues, who sailed from Finisterre,
+or Finibuster, in France, on the famous expedition against Fort Caroline
+in 1567.
+
+The name, whatever its origin, was long current in the Spanish as
+"filibustero" before it became adopted into the English. So adopted,
+it has been used to describe a type of adventurer who occupied a
+curious place in American history during the decade from 1850 to 1860.
+
+The citizen or subject of any country, who makes war upon a state with
+which his own is at peace, with intent to overrun and occupy it, not
+merely for the piratical ends of rapine and plunder, is a filibuster
+in the true sense of the term. Such act of war is, by the law of
+nations, a crime against both countries. Its morality, before the
+meaner court of popular judgment, will rest upon the measure of its
+success alone. So judged, as all invaders are judged at last, the bold
+adventurer draws but few prizes in the lottery of fame. Cortez and
+Houston are among the few successful filibusters of modern times.
+
+In the shadowy chronicles of the Norsemen we find the first trace of
+that adventurous spirit which, during twelve centuries, gave the
+dominion of the ocean to the seafaring people of Northern Europe. The
+bold Vikings who, without chart or compass, sailed over unknown and
+dangerous seas, crossed the Atlantic and swept the Mediterranean, were
+the worthy fathers of the Drakes and Ansons of later years. History
+bespeaks them cruel, rapacious, daring; pirates when, as Wheaton says,
+the occupation of a pirate was considered not only lawful, but
+honourable. But they were not wholly destructive. Borrowing a lesson
+in natural history from their own lemming, they solved the troublesome
+problem, how to get rid of a surplus population, by sending the
+superfluous members forth to seek a new field. The lemming eats his
+way to the sea, in which he finds his grave; but his human imitator
+more wisely found there a pathway to fortune. They went forth mainly
+to conquer, incidentally to colonize and settle. Among themselves they
+were primitive republicans, though harsh tyrants to their vanquished
+foes. "Who is your king or leader?" asked the herald of King Charles
+the Simple, before the decisive battle on the banks of the Eure in
+A.D. 898. "We have no king, no chief, no master; but 'Rolf, the
+Walker,' leads us in war and on the day of battle," was the proud
+answer of Rolf's comrades and peers. That this was no idle boast,
+Rolf's own descendant, King John of England, learned to his sorrow
+when the sons of the sturdy Norse filibusters met him face to face at
+Runnymede. The Magna Charta is the written code of that fierce
+democracy, dreaded alike by its serfs and its kings. The Vikings stand
+alone as a race of warriors whose hardihood overcame even their native
+superstition, in leading them to defy the gods themselves. They were
+sceptics, because they knew not fear. Love was as yet an unknown power
+in their religion.
+
+The Norsemen were suppressed only by absorption. Owing no fealty to
+their native land, they took possession of the conquered countries, in
+which they proved to be the strongest barrier against further
+aggressions from the dreaded North. But before this degree of safety
+was gained, all Europe had felt the scourge of the terrible Vikings,
+who had burned or put in vassalage London, Cologne, Treves, Paris,
+Tours, and Marseilles; carried their victorious arms to Portugal,
+Spain, Sicily, and Constantinople; and given dynasties of Norse blood
+to England, Russia, and France. Rolf married a natural daughter of
+King Charles, whence came the Norman dukes and the royal line of
+England. In brief, the Vikings held the western world at their mercy,
+overturning thrones, founding kingdoms, stabling their horses in the
+palaces of princes, and upholding on their hireling spears the crown
+of the fallen Cæsars.
+
+With the rise of the powerful maritime nations of Europe filibusterism
+slumbered for several centuries. The immortal expedition of Cortez
+being, in so far as it lacked the sanction of his king, wholly that of
+a filibuster, needs but passing mention here. Its success has lifted
+it into the realms of history and made it a household story.
+Filibusterism was to awake on a new field and lead the van in the long
+warfare which, in two hemispheres and during three centuries, has
+followed the meeting of Northman and Southron. England, and also
+France, looked with jealous eyes upon the grasping policy of Spain in
+the New World. The fortune of discovery had given to the two former
+the apparently barren lots of Canada and the British colonies. Spain
+had drawn the rich prize of El Dorado. Not content with the spoils of
+Mexico and Peru, she grudged to the hardy hunters of the West Indies
+their petty trade with her colonies. She claimed the Mississippi. The
+epitaph of Columbus was read as a veritable bequest by Spanish greed.
+But avarice over-reached itself. The persecutions heaped upon the
+"boucaniers" of the West Indies aroused a spirit of opposition, which
+success fanned into aggressive fires, and which the governments of
+England and France did nothing to extinguish. The cumbrous galleon
+with its golden freight was no match for the swift Vly-boat, manned by
+reckless adventurers in whom the appetite for gold was whetted by the
+memory of countless wrongs.
+
+From unexpected successes by sea the Buccaneers made bold to attack
+the rich towns on the Spanish Main, which they held for heavy ransoms,
+or sacked with all the attendant cruelty of their ancestral
+Berserkers. Panama, Granada, Gibraltar, every town or fort of note,
+fell before the resistless buccaneers, until the names of Morgan,
+Portugues, Dampier, and Lolonois became words of terror to the Spanish
+colonists. Yet it must be borne in mind that the buccaneers were not
+pirates. They warred against one enemy, the same which had for years
+oppressed them and their brethren, while the countries to which they
+owed allegiance were too weak or too indifferent to protect their
+distant sons. When the buccaneer degenerated into the mere pirate,
+none were more prompt than his late comrades to follow up and punish
+the Ishmaelite. Buccaneer Morgan, knighted and made governor of
+Jamaica, was the terror of the West India pirates, though the virtue
+of his motives may fairly be questioned.
+
+To her buccaneers England owes the birth of her great navy, whose
+first fame was won in the rout of the Spanish Armada. They were
+buccaneers who first sailed around the world; they founded the East
+India Company, and were Britain's sword and shield for the defence of
+her nascent colonies. Neglect and indifference rewarded their deeds,
+until they had grown strong enough to protect themselves. Spain had
+her paid servants in the very cabinets of England and France, a policy
+which she has not forgotten how to employ in other lands and later
+days.
+
+Because of a growing respect for the law of nations, filibusterism,
+during the grave changes of the eighteenth century and the lull before
+the storm of the American revolutions, slumbered once again.
+
+The American revolution meant the people defending its rights; the
+French revolution meant the people avenging its wrongs. Each was
+successful; both taught an undying lesson to humanity. Free America,
+with wise selfishness, aimed to assure and bequeath her liberty;
+Republican France, with loftier if less practical aims, sought to
+carry the gospel of freedom to all nations. She failed only when she
+yielded her dearly won liberty to the seduction of martial glory.
+Napoleon, the child of the people, became a parricide, and usurped the
+place of the fallen trinity--Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.
+
+Among the ardent friends of liberty who rallied around the flag of the
+Directory was Don Francisco Miranda, a native of Venezuela, of which
+province his grandfather had been governor. He was well educated, and
+owned a large private fortune. On account of his revolutionary
+sentiments he was forced to fly his native country and the military
+service of Spain, in which he had gained the rank of colonel. The bulk
+of his property was made forfeit. With what he could save from the
+wreck he fled to the United States in 1783. He afterwards visited
+several European countries. The French revolution found him in Russia,
+whence he at once set out to offer his sword to the Directory. He held
+a command under Dumourier in the Holland campaign of 1783, in which
+he won a brave name but no serviceable laurels. The campaign was a
+failure. Dumourier deserted the cause, and Miranda was arrested and
+tried for treason. Although undoubtedly innocent, his political
+intrigues had aroused against him powerful enemies who procured his
+banishment from France. He removed to England, a country whose ministry
+he interested in his lifelong scheme for the revolution of his native
+land. New York was chosen as the point of departure. With bills of
+exchange on London he bought there the ship _Leander_, with a
+formidable armament. On the 2nd of February, 1805, the first
+filibustering expedition from the United States, consisting of about
+two hundred men, "some of them gentlemen and persons of good standing
+in society, though mostly of crooked fortunes," set sail for Venezuela
+on a crusade of liberty. When eleven days at sea they were brought
+to by H.B.M. ship _Cleopatre_, and nineteen of the adventurers were
+impressed, in the ungracious fashion of the British navy of the
+period. The _Leander_ was detained, notwithstanding her American
+clearance, until General Miranda produced some private papers, at
+sight of which the British captain not only allowed her to proceed
+unmolested, but also gave her a "protection paper," forbidding all
+other English cruisers to detain or search her. Apart from the
+_Leander's_ questionable mission, this remarkable permit to travel
+on the high seas throws a striking light upon the construction of
+international law at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
+
+Miranda received material aid and comfort from Admiral Cochrane,
+commanding the British squadron on the West India station, but although
+his force was swelled by two small vessels, it was, from its first
+advent on the Spanish Main, a wretched failure. Differences among the
+invaders, aggravated by the wayward temper of the leader, together with
+a total apathy or active hostility on the part of the very Venezuelans
+whom the filibusters had come so far to deliver, brought all their fond
+hopes to nought. Such of the adventurers as were not captured by the
+Spaniards surrendered to an English frigate and were carried to the
+West Indies, whence they made the best of their way home.
+
+Whilst lacking in the heroism and splendid audacity of kindred later
+crusades, Miranda's expedition was a painful prototype in its ill
+fortune for subsequent ventures. The inevitable defeat, with its
+ghastly epilogue of butchery or lingering captivity; the rescue of the
+wretched survivors by a pitying English or American vessel of war; the
+world's merciless verdict upon the failure: such has been the dismal
+tragedy as acted on different stages, from the days of Miranda to that
+"last appearance" in Santiago de Cuba.
+
+Of the prisoners taken, ten were hanged; some fifty others were
+condemned to terms of imprisonment varying from eight to ten years.
+Among the latter was Major Jeremiah Powell, whose father visited Spain
+in a vain effort to procure his release. Returning, in despair, by way
+of London, he bethought him of a novel expedient. It was that of
+getting a letter of introduction to the Spanish monarch from the great
+Doctor Jenner. Armed with this he returned to Madrid and presented
+himself before the Court. The student of Spanish, and notably of
+Spanish-American history, will find few instances of generous or
+tender instinct in its bloody annals. Let it be written, as a bright
+line on the dark page of Spanish cruelty, that the appeal of
+humanity's benefactor was not made in vain. Major Powell was at once
+set free. The conquest of deadly pestilence was hardly a greater
+victory than that won over the heart of a merciless despot. Two
+half-pay officers of the British army, an ex-colonel of the United
+States service, a chevalier of the Austrian Empire, and several
+adventurous young men of good families in the United States formed the
+circle from which Miranda chose his officers. Among the latter was a
+youth named Smith, grandson of President Adams. It was rumoured that
+he was among the prisoners taken at Caracas. The Spanish minister at
+Washington, the Marquis de Casa Yrujo, fancying that he saw a good
+chance of serving his government, and, at the same time, getting
+credit for an humane act, wrote to a friend of young Smith's father at
+New York, offering to interest himself on behalf of the prisoner, who
+otherwise would probably be condemned to die with his companions.
+Respect for the exalted character of Mr. Adams, he said, prompted this
+step, but he must nevertheless stipulate that Colonel Smith should
+impart to him full and complete information about the plans of
+Miranda, and a list of the Spanish subjects who were concerned in
+them. The father, yet ignorant of the fact that his son was not among
+the unfortunate prisoners, at once replied thanking the noble Marquis
+for the interest he had shown, but adding with a dignity and fortitude
+worthy of a Roman: "Do me the favour, my friend, to inform the
+Marquis, that were I in my son's place I would not comply with his
+proposals to save my life; and I will not cast so great an indignity
+on that son, my family, and myself, as to shelter him under the shield
+of disgrace."
+
+What sympathy, if any, was given to the undertaking by the
+administration of President Jefferson, it is hard to determine.
+Miranda always claimed to have been in the confidence of the American
+Government, as he undoubtedly was in that of Great Britain. It is
+certain that the people of the United States already looked with
+brotherly feelings upon the misgoverned peoples of Spanish America.
+Some of the leaders were tried before the United States courts upon
+their return, but, defended with burning eloquence by Thomas Addis
+Emmett, himself an exiled patriot, they were promptly acquitted.
+
+Failing in his attempt to free Venezuela from without, Miranda
+returned to the country in December, 1810, and was favourably received
+by the semi-independent colonial government. Obtaining a seat in the
+republican congress he soon rose to the vice-presidency of that body,
+and organized a more formidable scheme of revolution. On the 5th of
+July, 1811, he signed the act of independence, and was appointed
+commander-in-chief of the forces. On his staff was Simon Bolivar, who
+was destined to play a more fortunate part than that of his chief in
+the destinies of South America. For a time Miranda was successful in
+the field, but reverses were soon followed by treachery, and when, in
+pursuance of the authority of Congress, he signed the treaty of
+Victoria, restoring Venezuela to Spanish rule, on July 25, 1812, he
+was denounced as a traitor by his fellow revolutionists, who, with
+little consistency, delivered him up to the enemy in whose interest
+they pretended he had acted. His after fate sufficiently establishes
+his innocence of treason to the revolutionary cause. The Spaniards
+sent him a prisoner to Cadiz, where he lingered for four years, dying
+in a dungeon, with a chain around his neck.
+
+Of all his deeds fame has preserved but one enduring memento, his
+name, carved with those of the other great soldiers of the Directory,
+on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Aaron Burr--The McGregor and his kingdom--Mina's expedition and
+fate--The Alamo massacre--Travis, Bowie, and Crockett--The tragedy of
+Goliad--Houston and Santa Ana--Victory of San Jacinto--The Santa Fe
+and Mier expeditions.
+
+
+While Miranda's ambitious schemes were drawing the notice of the State
+department towards the seaboard, a more serious filibustering scheme
+was quietly hatching in another quarter, in the brain of one of the
+boldest and ablest adventurers known to American history. The imperial
+crown of the Montezumas was the prize for which an ex-vice-president
+of the United States risked fame, fortune, everything--and lost! The
+story of Aaron Burr is a matter of familiar history. His demoralized
+forces surrendered at Bayou Pierre, on the Mississippi, on January 17,
+1807. Acquitted of the charge of treason, for which he was tried, but
+condemned by the unanimous opinion of his contemporaries, the sober
+judgment of history must pause before endorsing either verdict. The
+relations of Spain and the United States were in a hopelessly tangled
+state. Burr proposed to settle the disputed question of territorial
+rights by conquering the whole of Spanish North America, a scheme
+which his countrymen might not have severely rebuked or discouraged;
+but, unfortunately for his fame, Burr's ambition was personal and
+selfish. He would conquer, but not for his country's sake--a
+distinction, even then, sufficient to constitute a grave offence
+against the sovereign people.
+
+What are now known as the Gulf States--Florida, Louisiana, and
+Texas--were then held under the colonial sway of Spain. The first and
+second became absorbed by purchase. Texas, as early as 1812, had begun
+to invite the notice of the restless filibustering element, but its
+more immediate importance lay in its convenience as a field of
+operations for the Mexican revolutionists. Hidalgo and his compatriots
+unfurled the standard of independence in September, 1810. Their first
+attempt to enlist outside aid was made six months later, when Bernardo
+Guttierez de Lara, a native Mexican, was sent as a commissioner to
+Washington to invoke recognition for the new Republic. His mission
+failing, Guttierez went to New Orleans and began recruiting
+adventurers, with such success that he was able in February, 1812, to
+lead a force of 450 men across the border into Texas.
+
+His success was brilliant from the outset; and, in spite of some
+serious reverses, he succeeded in making himself master of Leon and
+Texas. Then came into play the unfailing ally of tyranny, corruption.
+Alvarez de Toledo, who had been appointed the successor of Guttierez
+as commissioner to Washington, made use of his position to negotiate
+with the Spanish minister for the betrayal of his compatriot.
+Returning to Texas, he incited mutiny among the troops of Guttierez,
+who deposed their commander and appointed Alvarez to succeed him.
+Personal ambition, rather than treason to his country, must have been
+the motive influencing the latter; for when the Royalist general,
+Arredondo, marched with an overwhelming force against the patriots at
+San Antonio de Bexar, Alvarez boldly gave him battle. Guttierez, with
+noble patriotism, fought in the ranks of his late command and did not
+survive the defeat. His heroic devotion was imitated on the same spot
+by Barrett Travis, twenty-two years afterwards. The defeat and death
+of Guttierez occurred on March 15, 1814.
+
+Among the Americans who took service under Guttierez was Augustus W.
+Magee, of Massachusetts, who laid down his commission as a lieutenant
+in the United States army to join the filibusters. His fate was
+peculiar. After several successes he found himself, as he supposed, so
+beset by Governor Salcedo that he made terms for the surrender of
+himself and followers and their transportation to the United States.
+But the men boldly refused to abide by the timid measures of their
+leader, disavowed the contract, and actually assailed and routed the
+enemy, who was awaiting their surrender. Magee, overcome with shame at
+the success of those whom he had proved himself unworthy to lead, blew
+out his brains on the night of the victory.
+
+Reuben Kemper, of Virginia, was another of the American adventurers of
+a widely different type. He is described as a man of gigantic
+proportions, with a voice and a heart to match his stalwart frame, and
+a profanity that attracted attention even on that Homeric field. As
+early as 1808 he made an attempt to capture Baton Rouge, and was
+kidnapped for his pains by the Spaniards, who would have cut short his
+career summarily but for the intervention of the United States
+commander at Pointe Coupée. On attaining his liberty, Kemper vowed to
+devote his life to the extirpation of Spanish rule in America. In 1812
+he led an abortive attempt to capture Mobile, but was more successful
+on receiving from Guttierez the command of six hundred Americans with
+whom he gained several victories. Dissensions in the patriot ranks at
+last sent him home in disgust. He afterwards served with distinction
+under Jackson at New Orleans, and survived to witness the final
+extinction of Spanish rule on the American continent.
+
+About this time occurred, like a burlesque injected into a tragedy,
+the extraordinary episode of "Citizen Gregor McGregor", or Sir George
+McGregor, which is said to have been his legitimate title in his
+native Scotland, who claimed dominion over Florida, then a Spanish
+possession. McGregor was the wearer of many titles, among them those
+of "Brigadier General of the Armies of the United Provinces of New
+Granada and Venezuela, and General-in-Chief of the armies of the Two
+Floridas, Commissioned by the Supreme Directors of Mexico and South
+America, and Cacique of Poyais, the last-named having been conferred
+by His Majesty George Frederick Augustus, King of the Mosquito Coast."
+Incidentally he claimed to be chief of the clan Alpin, or Gregor, of
+Scotland. Mr. Alfred M. Williams, author of the admirable "Life of
+General Houston," says of The McGregor:
+
+He had taken a part in the South American revolution, and married a
+woman who was, or professed to be, a sister of Simon Bolivar. Failing
+to win fortune in South America, "Gen." McGregor sailed away in a
+small schooner which he had obtained possession of, and appeared in
+Baltimore in the winter of 1817. There, without attracting any
+particular attention from the authorities, he enlisted a small number
+of men for the conquest of Florida, and landed on Amelia Island in
+June, where he issued a proclamation suitable to his titles of
+distinction, and promised "to plant the Green Cross of Florida on the
+proud walls of St. Augustine." Whatever is to be said of the other
+Filibusters, they were not blatherskites and charlatans, and of this
+class Gregor McGregor most distinctly was. Failing to gather any
+recruits to his standard, McGregor was persuaded by one Woodbine, an
+English adventurer, who figured a good deal in the troubles which led
+to Jackson's summary execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, to sail for
+New Providence, where a British regiment had recently been disbanded,
+and where, as in former years, there was abundance of material in the
+shape of broken men and the waifs and strays of adventure, in the hope
+of enlisting a force, to be joined by one of 1500 Indians under
+Woodbine for the conquest of Florida. McGregor sailed for New
+Providence, but probably impressed with the idea that the conquest of
+Florida would require something more than a proclamation, determined
+"to arrange his private affairs," which it will be seen, that he
+subsequently did to his great advantage. McGregor's Filibuster
+expedition in Florida did not quite end with the withdrawal of the
+leader to attend to his private affairs. One Commodore Aury of the
+Mexican Liberal forces, appeared on the scene with some small vessels
+and a motley crew of one hundred and fifty men, made up, as usual, of
+land and water pirates, refugees and adventurers of every shade of
+color and nationality, and set up a provisional Government, fortified
+Fernandina and endeavored, without success, to get together a
+Legislature representing the people of Florida. He was attacked at
+Fernandina by the miserable, half mulatto, Spanish troops from St.
+Augustine, and beat them off without much difficulty. But Aury's
+troubles were more internal than external. Part of the Filibusters
+were sincerely desirous of driving out the Spaniards and setting up a
+free Government in Florida, as was Aury himself, but the majority were
+simply desirous of making Fernandina a smuggling and piratical
+headquarters, as Barataria Bay was, and an entrepot for landing slave
+cargoes from Africa. They quarrelled and fought among themselves, and,
+in the meantime, had made themselves such a pest and nuisance to
+American commerce, by piracy and wrecking, and by stealing as well as
+selling slaves, that President Monroe, probably also foreseeing that
+Florida would soon fall into the lap of the United States, sent a land
+and naval force to demand the surrender of Fernandina, which was
+abandoned by the Filibusters early in the winter of 1818 and turned
+over to the Spanish authorities. But in the meantime Sir Gregor
+McGregor had conceived the safer and more profitable idea of founding
+a kingdom by colonization, rather than by conquest. In 1822 he made
+his appearance in Edinburgh and announced that he had become the
+proprietor, by a grant from His Majesty, the King of the Mosquitos, of
+an immense and valuable territory on the banks of the Black river,
+which possessed all the advantages of the Garden of Eden in the way of
+climate, soil and natural productiveness, and which only wanted
+settlers to add thereto the luxuries, with none of the labors, of
+civilization. This delectable country was named Poyais, and he himself
+was the Cacique thereof, a title, which, so to speak, reeked with
+barbaric richness and grandeur. He opened subscription books to the
+amount of two hundred thousand pounds, the greater proportion of which
+was actually paid in. In the meantime he transacted business in a
+regal fashion, occupying a town house in the fashionable quarter,
+besides a villa in the country, to which he occasionally retired when
+fatigued by the affairs of State. He appointed a full set of
+Government officers, including a Lord Chancellor, but himself, it is
+to be presumed, retaining the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer,
+and a military staff, clad in gorgeous green uniforms. He also
+established an order of knighthood, and, like other wise monarchs, had
+his historiographer and poet. The former produced a book dedicated to
+His Highness the Cacique of Poyais, entitled "Sketch of the Mosquito
+Shore, Including the Territory of Poyais; Description of the Country,
+with Some Information as to its Productions, the Best Mode of Culture,
+etc.; Chiefly Intended for the Use of Settlers. By Thomas Strangeways,
+K.G.C., Captain First Native Poyais Infantry, and Aid-de-Camp to His
+Highness Cacique of Poyais," in which the healthfulness and richness
+of the country were set forth with all the force of an untrammeled
+imagination; and the poet, a female relative of the Cacique, produced
+a popular song entitled "The Poyais Emigrant," in which love and lucre
+were attractively blended:
+
+    "Through smiling vales, 'neath lofty hills,
+      Through citron groves we'll stray together,
+    Our star of life will sweetly set,
+      When blessed in wealth and one another."
+
+    "With jewels rare, I'll busk your hair,
+      The fairest flowers for you I'll gather;
+    The rose's bloom, its rich perfume,
+      Is sweet as any Highland heather," etc.
+
+When everything had been concluded, His Royal Highness, the Cacique of
+Poyais, gave a regal reception to his court and faithful subjects,
+when they were admitted to the presence of the Cacique and Caciquess,
+who were seated on a dais, and graciously permitted to kiss their
+hands. A collation was served, and as this was the only substantial
+return obtained for their investments, it is to be hoped that they had
+better appetite than the Kentucky Colonel, who, after an unsuccessful
+night at the gaming table, was invited to stay and partake of some
+refreshments, and responded with a vigorous negative, and the query:
+"Do you suppose I can eat 1100 dollars worth of ham and get even?" A
+party of unfortunate emigrants actually went out to the kingdom of
+Poyais, where they found that the King of the Mosquitos did not
+recognize any grant as having been made to the Cacique; but they were
+graciously allowed to remain until the pestilential fevers carried off
+most of them, and the remainder were rescued by a relief party. As for
+Sir Gregor McGregor, he disappeared permanently from public view,
+taking with him, it is presumed, the treasure chest of his Government.
+
+Another stormy petrel blown from Europe to Mexican seas was Don
+Francisco Javier Mina, who managed to compress a world of adventure
+into his brief life. Born at Idocin in Spain in 1789, he won fame
+while a mere youth by leading his hardy mountaineers in many a
+guerrilla fight against the French. In his twenty-first year he had
+gained the rank of colonel, and was on the high road to preferment
+when the blind policy of King Ferdinand drove him into rebellion,
+along with his uncle, the brave General Espoz y Mina. A well-planned
+scheme of revolution having failed, he fled the country and made his
+way to England, where he was warmly welcomed. His talents and courage
+inspired the government of that country, which for reasons of its own
+wished to foment insurrection in Spanish America, to equip him for a
+renewal of warfare against Ferdinand on his transatlantic territory.
+He arrived in the United States well supplied with money and letters
+to the friends of the Mexican revolutionists, and on April 15, 1817,
+he landed a force of 270 men from New Orleans at Soto la Marina.
+Defeating a superior force of Royalists in several engagements, he
+made a junction with the revolutionary army, and speedily drove the
+enemy out of the Northern provinces.
+
+It was a far harder task, however, to overcome the jealousy and
+incompetence of Torres, then in chief command; and Mina, betrayed by
+his allies, fell into the hands of Viceroy Apodaca, who had him
+immediately executed, with twenty-five of his followers, on November
+11, 1817. Mina was but twenty-eight years old when he ended his
+career, but he had given proofs of rare worth as a soldier and a
+patriot.
+
+Among the Americans who shared his fortunes was Colonel Perry, of New
+Orleans. Despairing of success, as soon as he discovered the
+worthlessness of the native leaders, he abruptly withdrew from the
+army and undertook, with only fifty followers, to cut his way back to
+the United States by land. In this attempt they partially succeeded,
+but were soon overtaken and surrounded by an overwhelming force. Perry
+rejected all demands to surrender until, the last of his band having
+fallen by his side, he put a pistol to his head and blew out his
+brains.
+
+When Mexico at last won her freedom, her most northerly state, Texas,
+held an anomalous position. A large proportion of its people was made
+up of Americans who had borne their share in the battle for liberty.
+By birth and associations they were more closely allied with their
+Northern than with their Southern neighbours. It did not take them
+long to learn that Mexico, in changing her government had not changed
+her nature. The intolerance of the new rulers differed little from
+that of the old, while civil government was far less stable under the
+Republic than it had been while swayed by the Spaniard.
+
+Upon the declaration of Texan independence in September, 1835, General
+Cos marched a large army into the rebellious state, determined to
+drive the rash intruders out of the country. In the first engagement,
+at Gonzales, the Texans routed their foes, and General Cos was forced
+to take refuge behind the walls of the Alamo, in San Antonio de Bexar.
+But the Texan blood was now fairly up, and General Burlison, with only
+216 men, laid siege to the fortress. The garrison numbered 1,700, but
+in spite of the fearful odds, the Texans stormed the place and sent
+General Cos under parole to his astonished brother-in-law, the
+redoubtable Santa Ana. Colonel James Bowie, who had just defeated
+another large Mexican force, at the Mission Concepcion, joined Colonel
+Travis at the Alamo.
+
+Bowie was a Georgian, born in Burke County, about 1790. Not much is
+known of his career until the year 1827, when he became famous
+throughout the Southwest by his participation in a "difficulty"
+between two citizens of Natchez, Mississippi. Several friends of both
+combatants assisted at the duel and a general fight was the natural
+and welcome result. During the melée, Bowie was wounded, but killed
+one of his antagonists with a knife which a blacksmith had made for
+him out of a large file or rasp. The fame of the new weapon spread
+under the name of the "Bowie Knife", which still holds a high place in
+the affections of those who love close fighting. Oliver Wendell Holmes
+drily compares it to the short sword of the ancient Romans and says
+that "nations which shorten their weapons lengthen their boundaries".
+Bowie fought at San Saba in 1831 and at Nacogdoches and Concepcion in
+1835 and commanded as Colonel at Grass Fight, on Oct. 25, 1835. There
+is no doubt that Bowie was one of the bravest and coolest men that
+ever lived, even in Texas. To the Alamo presently also came "Davy"
+Crockett, of Tennessee, hunter, soldier, Congressman, unique in
+history.
+
+David Crockett was the fifth son of John Crockett, an Irish soldier of
+the Revolutionary War. He was born on August 17, 1786, at the mouth of
+Limestone on the Nolachuky River, Tennessee. The time and place were
+suitable for the development of a hardy character. The father and
+mother of John Crockett were murdered by the Creek Indians, a brother
+was wounded and another captured and held by the savages for seventeen
+years. Young "Davy" had slender opportunities of obtaining an
+education. Such as they were he sedulously avoided them. He was sent
+to school at the age of twelve, but spent only four days there,
+playing "hookey" until discovered by his father who did not neglect
+Solomon's advice. The youth thereupon ran away from home and had the
+usual unromantic experience attending such an escapade. He found
+employment with waggoners, farmers and others, some of whom cheated
+him and others paid him but scantily. The young prodigal returned home
+when he was fifteen years old and justified his forgiving welcome by
+working a whole year to pay off some of his father's debts. Then of
+his own accord and at his own expense he went to school for six
+months, learning to read a little, to write less and to master some of
+the first three rules of arithmetic. With that his book education was
+completed. Not so, however, his more practical tuition. He became a
+thorough woodsman, a mighty hunter and the crack rifle shot of the
+neighborhood. Then, at the mature age of eighteen, he determined to
+get married; the which he did by running away with a pretty Irish girl
+whose parents had the bad taste to object to him as a son-in-law.
+Then, as he says in his autobiography, "having gotten my wife, I
+thought I was completely made up, and needed nothing more in the whole
+world. But I soon found this was all a mistake--for now having a wife,
+I wanted everything else; and, worse than all, I had nothing to give
+for it."
+
+However, the stern parents became reconciled to the situation; his
+wife was a true helpmeet and their married life began happily. But the
+country was too thickly populated, in Crockett's opinion, and so he
+moved further into the wilderness.
+
+The Creek War broke out shortly afterwards and he served gallantly in
+that and in the Florida war under General Jackson, as also in the
+brilliant campaign of that General against the British, culminating in
+the victory of New Orleans. Politics next occupied his attention and
+he was elected first a magistrate, next a member of the State
+legislature and then to the national Congress, in which last he served
+three terms. Being defeated in his next attempt at re-election, he
+determined to abandon the ungrateful field of politics, and calling
+his late constituents together told them in language more forcible
+than elegant that they might all go to a warmer country and he would
+go to Texas. In this resolve he believed that he was following his own
+famous advice: "Be sure you're right, then go ahead."
+
+Colonel Barrett Travis had 144 men with him in the Alamo when Santa
+Ana and 4,000 Mexicans sat down before it, demanding an unconditional
+surrender, on February 23, 1836. Cos, heedless of his parole, was with
+the besiegers. Travis answered with a cannon shot, and the enemy
+hoisted the red flag, signifying "no quarter." In no spirit of
+bravado, but with a sincerity which the event only too fully
+confirmed, the Texan commander issued the following proclamation:--
+
+    "_To the People of Texas and all Americans in the World._
+
+    "COMMANDANCY OF THE ALAMO, BEXAR,
+
+    "_February 24, 1836._
+
+    "FELLOW CITIZENS AND COMPATRIOTS,--I am besieged by a thousand or
+    more of the Mexicans under Santa Ana. I have sustained a continual
+    bombardment and cannonade for twenty-four hours and have not lost a
+    man. The enemy have demanded a surrender at discretion; otherwise
+    the garrison is to be put to the sword if the fort is taken. I have
+    answered the summons with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves
+    proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Then I
+    call on you in the name of liberty, patriotism, and everything dear
+    to the American character, to come to our aid with all despatch.
+    The enemy are receiving reinforcements daily, and will no doubt
+    increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. Though
+    this call may be neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as
+    long as possible, and die like a soldier who never forgets what is
+    due to his own honour and that of his country. Victory or death!
+
+
+    "(Signed)
+
+    "W. BARRETT TRAVIS,
+    "Lieut.-Col. Com't."
+
+Houston, to whom Travis addressed an urgent call for reinforcements,
+could do nothing. On the 3rd of March, with death staring the little
+garrison in the face, Travis sent a despatch to the Revolutionary
+committee, calmly stating his position, reiterating his determination
+never to surrender, and dwelling with almost impersonal interest on
+the beneficial effect to follow such determined resistance as he and
+his men were making. "I will do the best I can under the circumstances,"
+he says, "and I feel confident that the determined valour and desperate
+courage heretofore evinced by my men will not fail them in the last
+struggle; and although they may be sacrificed to the vengeance of a
+Gothic enemy, the victory will cost the enemy so dear that it will be
+worse for him than a defeat."
+
+Day by day the toils were drawn closer around the doomed walls. Day by
+day the little garrison was thinned by wounds and sickness. Vainly
+they gazed northward across the plain for the invoked aid. The hungry
+eye beheld only a long train of Mexican recruits hastening like
+vultures to the feast of blood. Once they were gladdened by the sight
+of a little band of countrymen spurring towards the walls. But they
+were no forerunners of a relieving army. Thirty-two gallant Texans
+threw themselves into the fort, cutting their way through the
+besiegers, simply and solely that they might fight with their
+comrades; that they might be found, living or dead, by the side of
+David Crockett and Barrett Travis. Each morning a dwindling garrison
+answered to the roll-call, and the thin ranks were stretched a little
+wider apart along the crumbling ramparts which it had needed thrice
+their numbers to defend. They husbanded their scanty stores. They
+never wasted a shot. During that long and terrible fortnight it is
+said that nearly ten victims fell to each American rifle. With a
+thousand of his men shot down, and trembling in baffled wrath, Santa
+Ana on the fourteenth day, ordered another general assault. His
+officers drove their men to the breach at the sword's point.
+
+When the smoke of battle had rolled away there was silence in the
+Alamo. The dead and dying strewed the ground. Santa Ana entered the
+fort. On the rampart, dead at his post, lay the commander, Travis,
+shot through the head. Beside him was the body of a Mexican officer,
+pierced to the heart by the sword still clutched in the dead hero's
+hand. They found Bowie in his own room. He was sick in bed when they
+broke into it, but his trusty rifle was with him, and four Mexicans
+died before he was reached. A fifth fell across his dead body, pierced
+through and through by the terrible knife. At the door of the magazine
+they shot Evans, ere he could touch a match and wreak a Samson
+vengeance on the foe.
+
+Santa Ana stepped into the court-yard. There were six prisoners. His
+orders were that none should be taken. Nevertheless, David Crockett
+and five others had stoutly resisted, until his clubbed rifle broken
+in his sinewy hands, the dauntless backwoodsman listened to the
+promise of quarter. Santa Ana paused a moment before his unmoved
+captives. It was but for a moment. The next his hand sought the hilt
+of his sword. Crockett, divining his purpose, sprang at the traitor,
+but he was too late; a dozen blades had flashed at the sign and the
+hapless prisoners fell dead, the last of all the garrison.
+
+These men of the Alamo were volunteers, simple citizens, bound by no
+tie save that of fealty to cause and comrades. Unsung of poet, all but
+unnamed in history, the brave men of the Alamo went to their certain
+death, with a sublime fortitude, beside which the obedient immolation
+of Balaklava's Six Hundred is but the triumph of disciplined machines.
+A monument raised to their memory bears the magnificent inscription:--
+
+    "Thermopylæ had its messenger of defeat; the Alamo had none."
+
+It needs more than judicial impartiality to question the right of the
+Texan revolution while telling the story of the Alamo. Right and wrong
+are barred from consideration in recalling the tragedy of Goliad.
+Colonel Fannin and 330 of his men, who had surrendered to Santa Ana as
+prisoners of war, under a solemn promise that they should be returned
+to the United States, were marched out of the fort, on the morning of
+Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, and, without a moment's warning, fired
+upon and murdered in cold blood. The outlaws to whom this fearful
+penalty was dealt out, without even the mockery of a Spanish trial,
+were all young men or lads, "the oldest not over thirty years of age."
+The world, freely as its soil is saturated with human blood, stood
+aghast at this horrible slaughter. Texas trembled at the Mexican's
+vengeance. Houston alone, husbanding his scanty means, animating his
+raw levies, working, planning, providing for all, laid his trap with
+such shrewd forethought, that in less than two months he had sprung it
+upon Santa Ana and all his army, and on the banks of the San Jacinto,
+dictated terms of peace to his captive, the butcher of the Alamo and
+Goliad. The victory was unstained by a single act of revenge.
+Thenceforth the world knew that Texas was free. The men who could use
+success with such forbearance were men worthy of self-government.
+
+Texas striving for independence was to the nations of the world an
+object of keener interest than Texas sending her heroic filibusters to
+nameless graves. Lord Palmerston, anticipating with literal exactness
+the policy of a later administration dealing with Central America,
+threatened to send a ship of war to Texas "to demand payment of certain
+claims against the republic." The United States, with a similar
+foreshadowing of its future policy, at once took measures to insure the
+independence of Texas against all European meddlers. As usual, the
+people were in advance of their government, and Texas became a state of
+the American union, Mexico's attempt to hold it costing her the fairest
+part of her domain.
+
+Before this happy end was reached, more than one bloody tragedy had
+been added to the gloomy history of Texas. In June, 1841, General
+McLeod led from Austin a party of 320 men, bound for Santa Fe, New
+Mexico, upon the ostensibly peaceful mission of opening up trade with
+that place. His real aim was to foment insurrection against the Mexican
+Government and annex the territory to Texas. After a long and painful
+journey through woods and desert, being attacked by Indians, and lost
+on the then mysterious waste of the "Llanos Estacados," the expedition
+reached the frontier in scattered parties which were promptly captured
+by Governor Armijo. It was not, however, until after they had given up
+their arms, under the false representations of a traitorous comrade and
+the promise of friendly treatment from Armijo, that they found out how
+grievous had been their error in trusting to the word of the Mexican.
+The whole party, with the exception of three or four who had been put
+to death in pure wantonness, were sent under a strong guard to the city
+of Mexico, making the long and painful journey on foot, exposed to the
+grossest outrages from their brutal guard. Many died on the way, and
+the survivors were thrown into prison, where they lingered for months,
+until the miserable remnant were at last set free at the motion of the
+British and American ministers.
+
+Liberty was granted at the same time to the survivors of the Mier
+Expedition--an ill-starred band who, in December, 1842, had crossed the
+Rio Grande in pursuit of Mexican raiders. Colonel William Fisher headed
+the party, numbering about five hundred, their general, Somerville,
+having declined to lead them over the border. At the town of Mier they
+met and repulsed over two thousand Mexicans under General Ampudia, but
+their leader was wounded in the fight, and, against the protests of his
+chief officers, agreed to a conditional surrender. The terms, of
+course, were broken by the victor, and the unfortunate prisoners were
+hurried into the interior and buried in dungeons with the lowest
+convicts. Captain Ewin Cameron, one of the boldest in the band,
+foreseeing the fate before them, organized an attack on the guard
+before reaching their prison. They overpowered their armed escort, and
+made their way to the mountains, whence a few managed to reach Texas,
+but the greater part were recaptured, including their courageous
+leader. Santa Ana ordered them to be decimated. Cameron was lucky
+enough to draw a white bean in the fatal lottery, but it did not avail
+him. He was shot the next day. Few men would be found willing to
+increase the risks against them in such a terrible game of hazard; but
+there was one, a youth named George Bibb Crittenden, who, drawing a
+white bean, gave it to a comrade, with the self-sacrificing words, "You
+have a wife and children; I haven't, and I can afford to risk another
+chance." He did so, and fortunately again drew a safe lot. Crittenden
+survived to participate gallantly in the Mexican War, and attained the
+rank of brigadier-general on the Southern side in the Civil War. He was
+a son of the Kentucky statesman, John J. Crittenden.
+
+The prisoners were scattered amongst various strongholds, where many
+sank under disease, starvation, and cruelty. The survivors when freed
+were turned adrift, penniless, to make the best of their way home to
+the United States. General Thomas J. Green was one of those who escaped
+by tunnelling the walls of the castle of Perote; the story of which
+exploit, with his subsequent adventures, he has told in a book little
+known but of vast interest.
+
+It needs a Scott to tell to the world the story of our border romance,
+though no fiction ever surpassed the thrilling facts which were then of
+almost daily occurrence. Fame is a curious gift of the gods. Colonel
+Crockett, the daring soldier, is all but forgotten, while the
+whimsical, semi-fabulous "Davy" Crockett, hero of a hundred wild
+stories, seems likely to live for ever. Few remember how heroically he
+"went ahead," to the last extremity, after first making sure of what
+was "right" and fit in a patriot. Knightly scutcheon never bore a
+nobler device than that of the simple backwoodsman, nor lived there
+ever a _preux chevalier_ who set a higher value upon his plighted word.
+
+There were brave men, too, before Agamemnon. Mexier and Perry and
+Nolan, names well known on the border, lived and fought, and died, alas
+in vain, before the adopted son of an Indian, sturdy Sam Houston,
+crowned the long struggle with victory. Filibusters all, if you will,
+but every one a man, in an age when manliness is none too highly
+prized, and a country which is belied as the chosen home of dollar
+worshippers merely.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The Lopez Expedition--Landing at Cardenas--Pickett's Fight--An Exciting
+Chase--Last Expedition--Execution of Lopez and Crittenden.
+
+
+Filibusterism under that name, however, was unknown to the people of
+the United States, until the famous descents of Lopez upon Cuba in 1850
+and 1851. Narciso Lopez was a countryman of Miranda, and, like him, an
+officer in the Spanish service. Born at Caracas in 1799, he entered the
+royal army at an early age, attained the rank of colonel in his
+twenty-first year, and distinguished himself so well in the first
+Carlist war that he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and made
+Governor of Valencia. He went to Cuba in 1843 with Governor-General
+Valdes, who took him into high favour, and loaded him with honours. But
+O'Donnell, the successor of Valdes, did not continue the vice-regal
+favours, and Lopez consequently retired to private life, and ere long
+was discovered to be conspiring against the Government. He fled to the
+United States, where he found hundreds of adventurous spirits ready and
+eager for any undertaking that bade fair to be spiced with danger.
+
+His first attempt at invasion, in August, 1849, was checked at the
+outset by President Taylor, whose marshals captured the whole
+expedition as it was on the point of departure from New York. Nothing
+daunted by this mishap, Lopez travelled throughout the Southern and
+South-Western States, secretly enlisting men and making provision for
+their transportation to Cuba. At New Orleans he chartered a steamer and
+two barks and assembled his forces. From the valleys of the Ohio and
+Mississippi and the Gulf States they came, a hardy band of adventurers,
+three-fourths of whom had served in the Mexican War, the officers being
+men of known courage and ability. Colonel Theodore O'Hara commanded the
+first detachment, numbering 250, which sailed on the bark _Georgiana_,
+on the 25th of April, 1850, under orders to rendezvous at the island of
+Mujeres. Their colonel had won an honourable fame in the Mexican War
+and was not without greater distinction in the world of letters. He
+wrote the "Bivouac of the Dead," a lyric which will live at least as
+long as the memory of those whom it celebrated. Three weeks after their
+departure they were joined at the island of Contoy (for the _Georgiana_
+had not been able to make the rendezvous) by the steamer _Creole_,
+carrying Lopez and his fortunes and 450 followers. The whole command
+was then transferred to the _Creole_ and sailed away for the shores of
+Cuba.
+
+The little army was reviewed by their general, who made them a stirring
+harangue in Spanish (for he did not speak the tongue of his motley
+followers) promising them the co-operation of the Cubans the moment
+they should unfurl the Lone Star flag on the island, and the undying
+gratitude of a liberated people. More substantial rewards were also
+held out, in a bounty of four thousand dollars to every private soldier
+at the end of the first year's service, or sooner if the revolution
+should succeed within that time. In the meanwhile they were to receive
+the same pay, according to rank, as that of the army of the United
+States. It is not extravagant to say that hardly a man in the
+expedition gave a second thought to the money advantages contingent on
+success. The reckless dare-devils were content to enjoy a vagabond
+campaign seasoned with danger and hard fighting, while those of higher
+aims thirsted for the fame of Liberators. Among the men of education
+and lofty sentiments were Colonels O'Hara and John T. Pickett; the
+latter a bold and fertile organizer, who enjoyed the distinction of
+having a reward of 25,000 dollars offered for his head by the
+Captain-General of Cuba. The Adjutant-General, Gonzales, was a native
+Cuban, who had forsaken a promising career in the university to join
+the revolutionists. Many there were, too, of whom we shall hear again
+in Central America--Wheat, Titus, Kewen, Allen, and others.
+
+Matanzas had been chosen as the first point of attack, but as they
+rightly judged that the Spaniards had been advised of their movements,
+it was decided to land at Cardenas, whither the _Creole's_ bow was
+pointed, every eye turning to catch the first sight of the promised
+land. They entered the harbour about midnight, unchallenged by the
+over-confident enemy. So little were they expected by the good people
+of Cardenas, that not a boatman nor wharf watchman could be seen to
+take a line ashore, and the steamer lay a few yards from the pier until
+the first officer, Fayssoux, leaped overboard with a rope between his
+teeth and made her fast.
+
+Pickett, upon landing, marched rapidly with fifty men of the Kentucky
+battalion through the city and seized the station of the railroad which
+connected Cardenas and Matanzas. The main body, consisting of four
+companies, formed upon the pier and marched towards the plaza,
+intending to surprise the garrison. Before reaching the plaza they were
+challenged and fired upon by a patrol. Instantly the alarm was sounded
+in the garrison, and volleys of musketry began to play about the ears
+of the invaders. Colonel O'Hara was wounded at the first discharge, but
+his men fought with cool bravery under the leadership of Lopez, who was
+constantly in the foremost rank, seeking to make himself known to the
+defenders. He was sure that upon recognizing him they would at once
+fraternize with the invaders. But the garrison made a stubborn
+resistance until their quarters were carried by assault, when they
+threw down their arms and shouted "Vivas!" for Lopez and Liberty. The
+governor, whose house was opposite the barracks, held out until it was
+in flames, when he surrendered, and the filibusters, after a three
+hours' battle, had won Cardenas.
+
+Now was the time for the legions of revolutionists to fall in beside
+their liberators, and Lopez issued a strong appeal for volunteers. Not
+one native responded! Whether from apathy or cowardice, they showed no
+desire to risk their lives in the cause of liberty. The situation was
+becoming grave. Already the alarm had gone forth and the lancers of the
+enemy were beginning to appear in formidable numbers in the streets.
+Lopez saw that the capture of Cardenas was a barren victory. To carry
+out his intention of proceeding by rail to Matanzas in the face of the
+whole Spanish army, and without a single native adherent to welcome his
+appearance, would have been madness. Reluctantly he gave orders to
+embark, and recalled the detachment which had been guarding the
+railroad. The enemy seeing them retreat grew bolder, and made several
+determined efforts to prevent the embarkation, but the filibusters
+threw up a barricade of empty hogsheads and easily repelled the attack.
+After a final attempt to cut off the detachment from the railroad, in
+which Pickett drove them back with heavy loss, they offered no further
+opposition to the retreat. Cardenas had been won and lost within twelve
+hours. The _Creole_ steamed out of the harbour at nine o'clock in the
+evening, but stuck fast on a sand-bank and lay there for five hours,
+until sufficiently lightened of her cargo to float again.
+
+A council of war was held, and it was declared that no further attempts
+at a landing on the island were practicable, owing to the indecision of
+the native population. Lopez strove in vain to gainsay this
+determination, and even begged to be put ashore alone, or with the
+thirty Spanish soldiers who had just joined his cause. His mad request
+being refused he resigned command, and the steamer was headed for Key
+West, coming to anchor at nightfall within forty miles of that port.
+
+In the meantime, the authorities of Cuba had despatched a war steamer
+in search of the filibusters, and offered a reward of 50,000 dollars
+for the capture of Lopez. The _Pizarro_ sped into Key West while the
+_Creole_ was lying at anchor, and set out again in quest of her at
+daybreak. The people of the town were apprised of her mission and
+thronged the piers and hills to behold the issue. Soon they descried
+on the horizon the smoke of a steamer, which, as it drew near, was
+recognized as the _Creole_. Not far in her wake they also saw the huge
+_Pizarro_ throwing out volumes of smoke and rapidly closing with her
+prey. As the pursued steamer approached the coast it was seen that her
+fuel was giving out, while the _Pizarro_ was crowding on every pound of
+steam that her boilers could carry. A few minutes more and the guns of
+the Spaniard would have opened upon the devoted vessel, but at the
+critical moment the funnel of the _Creole_ began to belch forth clouds
+of smoke and her wheels to revolve as the wheels of a steamboat can
+when her Mississippi river captain begins to levy contributions on his
+cargo. The filibusters rolled barrels of bacon into the furnace-room,
+tore up the dry wood-work of the boat, and pulled the red shirts off
+their backs to feed the flames. Better a magnificent explosion and
+sudden death than capture and torture by the merciless Spaniard. The
+device succeeded. The _Creole_ gallantly rounded the point, a few
+hundred yards ahead of her pursuer, and dropped anchor under the guns
+of Key West as the _Pizarro_, without even saluting the fort, came
+ploughing behind her and halted a few rods away, with port-holes open
+and broadsides grinning like the fangs of a bloodhound baulked of his
+prey. Her gunners stood by their pieces, match in hand, and ready at a
+word to blow the _Creole_ to destruction. For a time it looked as
+though the word would be spoken; but, if such was the Spaniard's
+desire, he prudently forbore its gratification when he saw the United
+States officers take possession of the steamer, and a grim-looking
+array of filibusters swarm in the embrasures of the fort and sight the
+huge guns which were trained upon his deck.
+
+Lopez and his followers made the best of their way from Key West; they
+to their homes and he to the custody of a United States marshal. The
+expedition had suffered a loss of fourteen killed and thirty wounded.
+Among the killed was their chaplain! The list of the enemy's loss was
+not officially published, but is supposed to have reached a hundred
+killed and as many wounded. Lopez was tried for his violation of the
+neutrality laws, but escaped conviction, and immediately set about
+preparing another expedition. His faith in the devotion of his American
+friends was better founded than the reliance which he placed on the
+promises of his native adherents.
+
+In the following year, Aug. 12, 1851, he landed a force of 450 men at
+Bahia Honda, with the greater part of which he marched into the
+country, where he had been led to expect a general uprising the moment
+he should appear among the Creoles. Colonel W. S. Crittenden, a brave
+young soldier of the Mexican War, remained with the smaller body,
+awaiting reinforcements. But Lopez, as usual, had misjudged the spirit
+of his countrymen, who were not yet ripe for revolt. With his little
+band of 323 men he repulsed 1,300 of the enemy, killing their general,
+Enna; but being forced to retreat into the interior, his forces
+dwindled away and the leader was at last captured and carried in chains
+to Havana. Fifty of his followers were shot at once. Lopez was
+strangled by the garrote on Sept. 1st. It pleased his enemies to add
+this pang of an ignominious death. The old hero met it without
+flinching. Spain had honoured him for facing death upon many a bloody
+field, and she could not dishonour him while dying for the adopted
+country which was not worthy of his love.
+
+Meanwhile Crittenden and his detachment had been captured at sea and
+conveyed to Havana, where they were allowed the merest mockery of a
+trial. But one verdict was possible, where sentence had been already
+passed. Only a few hours elapsed between the trial and execution. The
+crowds of Havanese who flocked to the show, as to a national
+bull-baiting, saw them die with stoical fortitude. They saw Crittenden,
+with but twenty-eight years of life behind him, stand and face death
+with unflinching mien. They bade him kneel in the customary attitude,
+with his back to the firing party. "An American kneels only to his
+God," he answered, and so met his death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+The Count Raoussett-Boulbon--A father "de la vieille roche"--Raoussett's
+contract to garrison Sonora--Proclamations and pronunciamientos--
+Battle of Hermosillo--Negotiations with Santa Ana--Expedition to
+Guaymas--Engagement and defeat--Last words of a noble adventurer--
+Death of the Count.
+
+
+To Mexico the gift of liberty was as the boon of eternal life to the
+wandering Jew. Freed from the exactions of a despotic master, absolved
+by the bounty of nature from the stern, ceaseless struggle for physical
+life, stirred no longer by the warlike spirit of the conquerors, the
+Latin races in America seemed for a time to have fallen into a
+condition of hopeless lethargy.
+
+To redeem this fair land, with its boundless mineral and agricultural
+wealth, from the hands of its slothful owners, was a dream which fired
+the ambition and, it may be added, the cupidity of many daring minds.
+With the decline and final overthrow of Spanish power the richest mines
+of Northern Mexico were abandoned for lack of strength to repel the
+never-subdued and ever-hostile Indian tribes. Mexico was weak, torn by
+strife, and disorganized. In her feeble hands the mines of Sonora and
+Arizona were literally "treasure hoarded in the ground."
+
+There was in California, in 1852, a man of high birth and humble
+calling, a day labourer, with the proudest French ancestral blood in
+his veins--a soldier of Algiers, a count by birth and rank.
+Raousset-Boulbon, or, to give him his full name and title, Count Gaston
+Raoulx de Raousset-Boulbon, was a prodigal. He had squandered his
+substance in the riotous living of Paris and come to the land of gold
+to mend his fortunes. Unhappily for his peaceful aspirations,
+California, in 1852, offered a poor field to the man whose only gifts
+were education, the use of arms, nobility of soul, and a patrician
+title. Such endowments were neither rare nor deemed precious in that
+primitive community. The poet has sung, and the novelist painted, the
+wild contrasts of that marvellous period, but no flight of fancy could
+exaggerate the picture. San Francisco, the sea-port, was a truly
+cosmopolitan city. There were two French newspapers published daily, so
+great were the attractions of El Dorado to the rarely migrating Gaul.
+Among the hundreds of his countrymen who, like himself, had failed to
+find a fortune in the golden state, Gaston judged that he might easily
+enroll a band of adventurers for any bold undertaking. He was not
+mistaken when the occasion offered itself. In the indescribable human
+medley of California the Count Raousset-Boulbon cannot be said to have
+been out of place. Nobody, nothing was that. He was discontented with a
+career hitherto fruitful only in misfortune.
+
+He was the son of an _émigré_ of the old stamp, a self-willed fantastic
+old man, who carried the sternest rules of obedience into the most
+trifling domestic affairs, and might have adopted the motto, "L'état,
+c'est moi." His scheme of government may be inferred from a brief
+anecdote recounted by the biographer of Gaston. The latter, returning
+from Paris, appeared at home with two things distasteful to his sire--a
+beard and a cigar. "Madam," said the father to his wife, the stepmother
+of Gaston, "it would give me pain to argue with my son, and I could not
+brook opposition. The cigar I can overlook; but pray tell him that it
+pleases me not to see one of his age wear a beard like a 'moujik,' and
+that I shall be obliged to request its sacrifice." Gaston grudgingly
+obeyed the royal edict, for which he was formally thanked. Some days
+after the sire spoke again, "Madam, I authorize you to say to my son
+that he may let his beard grow again. Upon second thoughts I do not
+find it unbecoming." Compliance followed as before; but the tardy
+efforts of nature did not satisfy the old count, who gravely decided
+that "a beard does not become Gaston. Madam, I beg you to tell him once
+more that he must shave." Gaston, instead of obeying, packed his
+portmanteau and fled to Paris, and was forthwith disowned by his irate
+parent.
+
+His life in Paris was that of a Bohemian, until the death of his
+father, in 1845, enabled him to carry out a dear ambition, that of
+founding a colony in Algiers; but the revolution of 1848 recalled him
+to France and to a political career. He conducted a newspaper, _La
+Liberté_, and was twice elected to the Assembly. Beaten in a third
+candidacy he forsook politics in disgust, and turned his eyes towards
+California. Paris in 1850 counted as many as twenty Californian
+societies for organized emigration. Gaston, restless, weary, and yet
+fired with the longing for some great deed, was almost penniless when,
+in his thirty-second year, he took a third-class passage for
+California, along with a dozen compatriots of various ranks.
+
+Reaching the wondrous city, which his biographer aptly calls "the
+modern Babel, with the confusion of tongues," Gaston, with a manliness
+little to be expected in one of his training, betook himself to the
+stern duty of earning a livelihood by hard labour. He tried fishing,
+which barely earned him bread. As a lighterman he did better, until the
+building of a wharf ruined his business. A speculative enterprise for
+importing cattle from Lower California proved "more picturesque than
+profitable." At this juncture when, in his own words, "a gendarme would
+have charged on me at full gallop," so wretched was his appearance, his
+friend, M. Dillon, the French Consul at San Francisco, procured him
+letters of introduction to Señor Arista, President of Mexico, and
+Gaston repaired to the capital of that country, full of enthusiasm. The
+banking-house of Jecker, Torre and Co. acting as agents of the
+Government, signed a contract with Gaston, whereby the latter pledged
+himself to land at Guaymas, in Lower California, a company of five
+hundred French immigrants, armed and equipped for military duty,
+ostensibly and immediately for the protection of the Restauradora
+Mining Company against the incursions of the Arizona Indians, but
+really intended to serve as the nucleus of an extensive French colony,
+to be used as a barrier against the supposed encroachments of their
+American neighbours. Already the expansion of the United States in the
+direction of Mexico and the Pacific coast had aroused the jealousy of
+Europe. There is no doubt that Gaston's scheme for the protection of
+Mexico, befriended as it was by the representative of France in
+California and the French minister in Mexico, M. Levasseur, was not
+without substantial aid from the home government. The banker Jecker
+played a leading part, years afterwards, in the ill-starred attempt of
+Napoleon III. to found an empire in Mexico.
+
+As a present reward for his services in protecting the Arizona mines,
+Gaston was to have a share in all their profits. He was yet to learn,
+as the royal Maximilian did later, that a bargain needs more than two
+parties to ensure its fulfilment, in Mexico. Arista was President of
+Mexico, but Governor Blanco ruled in Arizona. Arizona is a state of
+boundless mineral wealth, and little else. "Ruins of houses, ruins of
+churches, ruins of towns, and, above all, ruins of crouching men and of
+weeping women," is Gaston's graphic summary of Sonora and Arizona as he
+found them in 1852. Two hundred and sixty gallant Frenchmen landed at
+Guaymas on the 1st of June, and were warmly hailed as deliverers by the
+fickle populace. Governor Blanco, however, showed himself strangely
+lukewarm towards his new allies, whom he peremptorily forbade to leave
+Guaymas. The reason of his opposition was simple. He was interested in
+a rival company to the Restauradora. Vexatious delays followed. The
+recruits lost heart and hope. Gaston, chafing at the delay, had gone
+forward to Hermosillo, whither he brought his followers, after vainly
+awaiting the governor's leave to set out for Arizona. Blanco thereupon
+decided to offer these alternatives: "The Frenchmen shall renounce
+their nationality, or I shall compel them to leave the country." Gaston
+protested vainly in a letter to the French minister, and kept on his
+march to Arispe. He wrote also to Governor Blanco, who temporized and
+offered new conditions, denationalization of the company, their
+reduction to a maximum force of fifty, or a guaranty that they should
+not violate an ancient Mexican law forbidding foreigners to own real
+estate, mines, or other such property. These propositions were laid
+before the company by Gaston, who, at the same time, offered the means
+of departure to any who wished to avail themselves of them. Not a man
+was found willing to accept the opportunity. Gaston then, in a firm but
+temperate note, declined to accede to Blanco's terms, claiming for
+himself and his followers the fulfilment of their contract with the
+government of Mexico. Blanco threatened to treat the strangers as
+pirates and outlaws. To some of them he made secret offers of rich
+rewards if they would betray their comrades.
+
+In these straits, harassed also by the savage Apaches, Gaston took up
+the line of march back to Hermosillo. On the 30th of September they
+encamped at the pueblo of La Madelaine. Here, as elsewhere in Mexico,
+the national gallantry of the adventurers, "half-heroes, half-bandits,"
+as they were, won them immense favour with the fair Sonoriennes, though
+it is doubtful if the latter's graver brethren took so kind a view of
+"_fenêtres escaladeés, des maris infortunés, des duels, des processions,
+des bals, des representations theatrales_," and the other exploits
+faithfully chronicled by the light-hearted chief.
+
+A sterner welcome met them in another summons from Blanco: "Surrender
+your arms, or prepare to be treated as outlaws." Gaston, feeling that
+either choice promised little of mercy, proceeded to force the issue at
+once by hastening his march upon Hermosillo. By striking there a
+decisive blow he expected to rally around his standard the always
+numerous body of disaffected citizens, and so prepare the way for the
+independence of Sonora. Despatching an emissary to California for
+recruits, he set out, on the 6th of October, by the southerly road for
+Hermosillo. Fifty leagues from that city Blanco lay at Arispe,
+uncertain of his enemy's plans. Gaston's force numbered two hundred and
+fifty-three men, including forty-two horsemen and twenty-six marine
+veterans detailed to serve the four small cannon of the little army.
+Among them were many old soldiers of Africa and barricade veterans of
+Paris. Four or five months of sojourn in the Arizona deserts had not
+improved their looks. But with a good-natured patience truly French
+they made light of their troubles, jested at their sorry attire, and
+when their boots gave out made sandals of hides, or trudged along
+barefoot. In such guise and manner they marched to Hermosillo, but a
+few hours too late, for Blanco had distanced them by forced journeys,
+and thrown a body of twelve hundred men into the town. Gaston, without
+waiting to rest his weary followers, gave orders to attack. In less
+than an hour he was master of the place, and General Blanco was flying
+with the remnant of his command to Ures. Yet the latter could better
+spare his two hundred killed and wounded than the little band of
+adventurers could afford their loss of forty-two. To the filibuster
+there are no reserves.
+
+But a greater calamity awaited the expedition. Gaston was stricken down
+with sickness in the hour of victory, and, feeling the insecurity of
+his position, gave reluctant orders to march to Guaymas. His malady,
+dysentery, grew worse as they advanced. Within three leagues of Guaymas
+they halted at the rancho Jesus Maria. Envoys from Blanco met them
+there and treated for a parley between the two commanders, of which
+nothing came but a short-lived truce. That evening Gaston was
+delirious, nor were suspicions of poison wanting. The French camp
+became panic-stricken, so that M. Calvo, Vice-Consul of France at
+Guaymas, and himself a partner in Blanco's rival mining company, easily
+persuaded the subordinates to sign a treaty resigning the contract and
+agreeing to leave the country. Gaston awoke from a three-weeks' stupor
+to find himself without an army. He was permitted to leave the country,
+and returned to San Francisco with his ambition only whetted by his
+late trials.
+
+There was to be no mistaking the nature of his future operations. The
+next expedition should be made up solely of Frenchmen and soldiers, its
+avowed end the independence of Sonora. "These men shall be fully warned
+that they go to Sonora to fight; that their fortunes rest on the points
+of their bayonets; that if they be conquered they shall infallibly
+perish as pirates; that it is for them a matter of victory or death."
+
+His friend, President Arista, had resigned his office, in the face of
+civil war, on the 6th of January, 1853. Mexico was in worse than its
+normal state of anarchy. A dictatorship was proclaimed, and Santa Ana
+recalled to govern the wretched country. One of his first acts was to
+send for De Boulbon, who, upon promise of a safe conduct, visited the
+capital.
+
+The interview was dramatic between the old, crafty, and cold-blooded
+butcher of the Alamo, and the young, romantic, hot-headed conqueror of
+Hermosillo. The latter was in the prime of manhood, of medium size,
+well-proportioned and graceful, erect, broad-browed, with open, frank
+eyes, and fair hair and beard. Santa Ana, versed in the thousand wiles
+of Mexican diplomacy, and rightly appreciating the skilled courage of
+his guest, would have enlisted his talents in the dictator's personal
+service. Gaston steadily besought a confirmation of the original
+contract. Four months were spent with all the tardiness of Spanish
+negotiation in realizing that object. At last a treaty was prepared,
+binding the Count to garrison Arizona with five hundred French
+soldiers, who were to receive a total compensation of 90,000 francs,
+the Government advancing 250,000 francs for outfit and other expenses.
+The treaty was solemnly signed, attested, and annulled within a
+fortnight! Gaston was furious. The dictator blandly repeated his offer
+of a regiment and personal service at the capital, an offer which the
+Count spurned as an insult. "You offer me," he said, "a favour that is
+personal, when I ask for justice to myself and my brave men. Should I
+accept, what would be your opinion of me? what the opinion of those
+whom I should command? General, I have the honour to be a Frenchman.
+When I pledge my word I keep it." So the two adventurers parted in the
+halls of Montezuma.
+
+Gaston, burning with indignation, easily fell into sympathy with some
+of the every-ready malcontents conspiring against the new government.
+The plot was found out, but Gaston received warning in time to put
+fifty miles of hard riding between him and the fatal anger of Santa
+Ana.
+
+He returned to San Francisco, his old sense of wrong aggravated by this
+new grievance. With singular inconsistency we find him writing to a
+correspondent in France, in bitter complaint of the apathy shown
+towards his scheme by the "intelligent and rich" Americans, at the same
+time that he warns his compatriots against the designs of the United
+States on the territory of Mexico and the world at large. His gloomy
+forebodings must awaken a smile, in view of the actual results, yet
+they speak a sentiment which was powerful enough, ten years later, to
+work out the imperial tragedy of Maximilian.
+
+"Europeans," he says, "are disturbed by the growth of the United
+States, and rightly so. Unless she be dismembered, unless a powerful
+rival be built up beside her, America will become, through her
+commerce, her trade, her population her geographical position upon two
+oceans the inevitable mistress of the world. In ten years Europe dare
+not fire a shot without her permission. As I write, fifty Americans
+prepare to sail for Lower California, and go perhaps to victory.
+_Voila les Etats-Unis!_"
+
+On the 2nd of April, 1854, three hundred French military colonists
+sailed from San Francisco, upon a formal invitation from the Mexican
+consul, to perform the duty formerly allotted to De Boulbon; the latter
+had been declared an outlaw by the Government. Nevertheless he resolved
+to hazard a descent upon Arizona, counting on the fidelity of those
+colonists and the moral support of the French Government, still uneasy
+over the ambitious designs of the United States. On the 24th of May
+he sailed from San Francisco on the little schooner _Belle_. His
+departure was hurried, as the United States authorities, warned of his
+purpose, had taken steps for his arrest and detention. In his haste he
+was forced to leave behind a small battery which he had bought for the
+expedition. The captain of the _Belle_, an American, hesitated to
+put to sea, but Gaston (so says his biographer) promptly put him in
+irons and took command of the vessel himself. His avowed object was the
+carrying out of the original contract of 1852, namely, the protection
+of the mines of Arizona; but Arizona had meanwhile become American
+territory, under the Gadsden treaty of 1853. Hence the present attempt
+of Gaston was filibustering, pure and simple, if not something worse.
+
+The voyage was long and tedious, lasting thirty-five days. On the 27th
+of June they came in sight of Guaymas. Landing at Cape San José, he
+sent two of his men to the city to prepare the three hundred Frenchmen
+there for his coming, and to concert a plan of action. The envoys were
+recognized and thrown into prison by General Yanes, who had succeeded
+Blanco in the governorship of Sonora. An amicable but fruitless parley
+followed between the commandant and Gaston. They arranged a sort of
+armed truce, which lasted until the 8th of July; but it needed only a
+small spark to explode magazines of such fiery material as formed the
+two rival garrisons of Guaymas. The French company, overweening, vain,
+and quick-tempered, met and jostled the dark-browed peons, jealous,
+revengeful, and proud. Both were armed, both quarrelsome as gamecocks.
+The French put faith in their national valour, the Mexicans in their
+national odds of eight to one. At the first outbreak, some petty street
+brawl, the native soldiers sounded the general alarm. The French rushed
+to their quarters, whence they sallied, fully armed, and met the
+irregular attack of the enemy with a resistance as unmethodical as
+intrepid. For three hours the battle raged on the rocky streets of
+Guaymas. Gaston, always a gentleman by instinct, refused the proffered
+leadership, as that honour belonged to Desmarais, the commissioned
+chief of the three hundred. He commanded a company, however, and fought
+with splendid courage, until, twice wounded, his men in retreat and
+everything lost, he broke his sword over his knee, and led the remnant
+of his force to the French Consulate, where they formally surrendered
+to their country's representative. An hour later they gave up their
+arms, upon the pledge of M. Calvo, backed by the promise of General
+Yanes, that their lives should be spared. Gaston was thrown into
+prison. Ten days later he was taken before a court-martial, tried, and
+condemned to death as a traitor and rebel. "Mark that they did not name
+me once as a filibuster," he wrote home.
+
+The American consul, Major Roman, pleaded earnestly, but vainly, for
+mercy. M. Calvo would not interfere. Gaston in the hour of trial bore
+himself with manly fortitude, begging only, and not in vain, to be
+spared the indignity of dying with bound hands and bandaged eyes. The
+faith of his childhood returned to him, and his lifelong unrest shaped
+itself into perfect peace and resignation. The "old nobility," too,
+spoke out in his farewell letter to his brother, a curious blending of
+worldly pride, Christian humility, and philosophic fatalism. "It is my
+loyalty to my word that has dug my grave.... A mysterious chain,
+beginning at the cradle, leads to the tomb, and life is but a link
+thereof.... M. Calvo will bear witness that I died as became a
+gentleman.... To-morrow morning I shall have burned my last cap and
+fired my last cartridge.... Tell your children that Uncle Gaston died
+with a priest at his side, and that yet Uncle Gaston was a brave
+man.... If any wonder that I submit to this death, you may say that I
+look upon a suicide as a deserter.... I go to death a gentleman, and I
+die a Christian." The philosophy of this dying chevalier throws a
+little light upon his strange character. He died with touching and
+simple bravery, on August 12, 1854, at the age of thirty-six. Eleven
+years afterwards another and more imposing filibuster, lured to Mexico,
+partly by the intrigues of the same commercial house which had held the
+glittering bait before the eyes of poor Gaston, died with equal
+firmness at the hands of his executioners. Maximilian of Austria, Prim
+of Spain, and Napoleon of France, all played with fire, like the
+ill-fated Count Gaston Raoulx de Raousset-Boulbon, and all, like him,
+suffered.
+
+But another and stranger being had witnessed the bootless expedition to
+Guaymas in 1852, and drawn his own false moral from the example before
+him--with what results will be told hereafter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+William Walker--Boyhood and education--Doctor, Lawyer, Journalist--
+Goes to California--Personal appearance and characteristics--Departure
+of the Sonora Expedition--A government proclaimed--Stern discipline--
+Retreat from Sonora--Bad news at San Vincente--The adventurers cross
+the boundary--Walker resumes the pen.
+
+
+While De Boulbon, resting upon his fruitless victory of Hermosillo,
+awaited at San Francisco a chance to profit by the turn of the cards in
+Mexico, he was offered, and declined, a subordinate command in an
+expedition planned and conducted by the greatest of modern filibusters.
+
+William Walker was the son of a Scotch banker who emigrated to
+Tennessee in 1820, marrying there a Kentucky lady named Norvell.
+William, their eldest son, was born in the city of Nashville, on May 8,
+1824. His parents intended to give him a profession, preferably that of
+the ministry, and, though his taste led him otherwise, the gravity of
+the kirk always pervaded his manner, and theological speculations
+interested him through life. His boyhood was marked by a reserved and
+studious disposition, yet romantic and venturesome withal. His name
+appears in the graduating class of 1838 of the University of Nashville.
+The curriculum of that institution covered a wide course of study,
+including, besides the branches of common education, mathematics,
+astronomy, chemistry, navigation, belles-lettres, geology, moral and
+mental philosophy, logic, political economy, international and
+constitutional law, oratory, natural theology, the classics, and many
+other studies. It was not the fault of his _alma mater_ if he failed
+to prove as eminent in statesmanship as he was in arms. Duelling, the
+carrying of arms, and all wrangling were prohibited by the rules of the
+college. Cock-fighting was "especially forbidden." The cost of tuition
+and board was between two hundred and fifty and three hundred dollars a
+year. Altogether there is no reason to doubt that the University of
+Nashville, "authorized to grant all the degrees which are or may be
+granted by any college or university in Europe or America," was quite
+able to teach a young and ambitious student the elements of a sound
+education. The moral guidance of youth seems to have been well provided
+for, and a healthy desire to check extravagance in personal outlay is
+particularly noted in the regulations.
+
+Having a liking for the medical profession, young Walker made a course
+of study at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a class-mate
+of Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, the famous Arctic explorer. He afterwards
+visited and studied at Edinburgh, in France, Germany, and Italy,
+spending two years in travel, and gaining, together with his medical
+education, a fair knowledge of the languages and laws of those
+countries.
+
+Of his professional experience we know little, save that he practised
+for a time in Philadelphia and Nashville, but, finding the profession
+unsuited to his health, he went to New Orleans and studied law. He was
+admitted at the bar in that city, but did not devote himself long to
+his new pursuit. He obtained a place on the _Crescent_ newspaper, and
+gave himself up to the fascinating business of journalism with all the
+ardour of a novice. That a man should have tried three professions so
+different as those of medicine, law, and journalism, before reaching
+his twenty-fifth year is not remarkable in our country. It was equally
+in keeping with the character of the man of 1849, that he forsook this
+latest fancy to join the host of restless spirits bending their steps
+towards California. Arriving there in 1850, he became an editor on the
+_San Francisco Herald_ and took sides with the faction of which David
+C. Broderick was the leader. His literary style was not ill-adapted to
+the journalism of the day and place, and ere long Walker the advocate
+found occasion to defend Walker the editor upon a charge for contempt
+of court. The lawyer failed to save the writer from the penalty of a
+brief imprisonment and a fine of five hundred dollars. The same
+pugnacious qualities involved him in a more serious quarrel with a
+Philadelphian, named William Hix Graham, and appeal was taken to the
+court of honour. The combatants met on a sandy lot outside of the city
+limits. Shots were exchanged, apparently without damage to either man,
+and the seconds were about to give the signal for another fire, when
+one of them perceived a pool of blood at Walker's feet. The doughty
+fighter had received a wound in the foot, and, in order to gain another
+shot, had tried to hide it by throwing sand over the spot with his
+other foot. The seconds, however, decided that honour was satisfied by
+the flow of blood, and the duel went no further. After this Walker
+retired from journalism, and practised law for a time in Marysville,
+with success enough to satisfy the ambition of anybody who aimed at
+law-expounding rather than law-making.
+
+Walker was now (in 1852) only twenty-eight years of age. Nature had not
+dealt lavishly with this man, whose ambition grasped at no less a prize
+than the conquest of an empire. His figure was slight, though shapely;
+he stood about five and a half feet high, and never weighed over one
+hundred and thirty pounds. His closely-cut, sandy hair was thin and
+almost whitish; his face was freckled and beardless, giving him a
+boyish appearance. The lower half of his visage was plain, almost
+commonplace, but his large, rounded forehead and keen gray eyes were
+strikingly fine. When his usually cold nature gave way to emotions of
+anger or excitement the eyes dilated and kindled with a greenish light,
+like those of a bird of prey; the thin, short upper lip became
+compressed, and the slow, quiet voice rose sharp and short. He never
+showed other sign of emotion; but, says one who knew him well, "those
+were sufficient to awe the most truculent desperado into a submission
+as abject as that of the maniac before his keeper." Add to these a rare
+frugality of speech, a morality ascetically pure, and a temperance
+equally patent in word and action, and we know as much of the outward
+man as did the thousands of men who feared and loved him and died for
+his sake.
+
+Joaquin Miller in his poem, "With Walker in Nicaragua," paints the
+Filibuster Chief, with
+
+    "A dash of sadness in his air
+    Born maybe, of his over-care,
+    And, maybe, born of a despair
+      In early love."
+
+Henningsen, who knew him intimately, was unaware of any romance in the
+career of his chieftain; yet there was one, the only one of his life
+and it has been given to the world, within a few years, by a near
+relative of Walker. The object of his love was Helen Martin, a
+beautiful New Orleans girl, whom he met in Nashville after his return
+from Europe. She is described by Mr. Daniel Francis Barr, who had the
+story from Walker's cousin, as "a most attractive woman--the loveliness
+of face and form being enhanced by that endearing charm which
+helplessness to beauty lends. For nature, so lavish in her other
+endowments, deprived this beautiful creature of two most essential
+faculties--she was a mute. Strange as it may seem, these two young
+people, in appearance and character the apparent antithesis of each
+other, allowed friendship to ripen into an ardent and lasting
+affection. When Miss Martin returned to New Orleans, Walker soon
+followed, and as lawyer and journalist, gained distinction in the
+Crescent City. Just before the date fixed for their marriage the breath
+of pestilence poisoned the Gulf breezes, and the dreaded yellow fever
+became epidemic in the coast cities. Among the first to fall victim to
+the scourge was Miss Helen Martin, and her death changed the entire
+life-current, if not the heart of William Walker. From the ashes of a
+buried love ambition rose supreme."
+
+The Ishmaelite nature urging him to travel again, his "destiny," as he
+called it, carried him to Sonora, at the moment when De Boulbon's first
+expedition was nearing its vain catastrophe. No longer a lawyer, a
+doctor, or an editor, he returned to California with dreams of martial
+glory, crude as yet, but, to a man of his unyielding courage, full of
+unlimited promise. People now spoke of "Colonel" Walker. The conferring
+or the assumption of military titles, solely by the grace of popular
+courtesy, was a curious foible of the Southern gentleman of the old
+school. Whether this unwritten commission preceded his assumption of a
+serious military career, or was coeval with it, is uncertain and of
+little consequence. There was no examination of titles or antecedents
+among the pioneers of California. The claimant of a military title
+could best defend it by deeds of daring, and by such William Walker was
+to prove himself. De Boulbon's short-lived success prompted Walker and
+a few friends to turn their eyes towards the same field. An agent,
+named Frederic Emory, was sent to Sonora in 1852 to treat for a
+contract such as had been granted the French company. Upon the failure
+of the latter, Walker and a partner, Henry P. Watkins, renewed the
+negotiations in person. It does not appear that they succeeded or
+received any encouragement from the jealous natives. Nevertheless,
+Walker and a few of his friends set themselves to the task of
+conquering the Western States of Mexico, in the face of difficulties
+which might have daunted even more daring spirits. The American
+Government was actively hostile to all filibustering movements. Sonora
+certainly did not offer a welcome to her unsought liberators. The
+singular unwillingness (already noticed by De Boulbon) of American
+capitalists to furnish the sinews of illegal warfare, no doubt
+continued to mark that unromantic class.
+
+On the other hand, Walker had many warm personal friends, chiefly among
+the natives of the Southern states. He was actually a sincere, even
+fanatical, believer in slavery. To conquer new territory, and thus to
+extend the area of slavery, was a scheme certain to meet with sympathy
+throughout the South. The admission of new Northern territories already
+threatened to overcome the supremacy of the South in the national
+government. Sectional and party bias, personal interest, and political
+prejudice moved the citizens of the slave states to withstand this new
+and growing menace. Like feelings, intensified through years of
+political minority, stirred the North. So far as the South was
+concerned in the maintenance of slavery, her interests called for its
+extension; otherwise, the growing movement for its abolition, aided by
+the approaching change of political power, would soon compass its
+overthrow. So, at least, and not without foresight, reasoned the
+upholders of slavery in that dark and bitter era.
+
+The impending conflict was well styled "irrepressible." Years of angry
+debate had made compromise impossible, but the wiser and better heads
+in either party shunned the wager of battle. Disunion was scarcely
+considered as a theory, among the mass of the people, ere it sprung
+into being, a fact. Doughty-tongued zealots alone talked of war, and
+they were those who kept on talking after men of cooler courage had
+begun to fight.
+
+Walker, then, could confidently invoke the sympathy of the rich and
+influential slave-holders in a crusade for the extension of their
+favorite system. He could appeal to the daring and adventurous of every
+class by the dangerous fascination of his scheme, and to the
+Californian, especially, through his native hostility and contempt
+towards his Mexican neighbor. For the rest, he offered as inducements
+to immigrants in Sonora five hundred acres of land to each man, and
+four dollars daily pay for military services. Arms and ammunition were
+procured. Emigrants of strangely unpastoral bearing offered themselves
+at the rendezvous. A brig was chartered and the day of departure set.
+At this point the United States marshal seized the vessel. This was in
+July, 1853. Three months afterwards, the emigrants, learning caution
+from experience, took their steps so secretly that forty-five of
+them, including Walker and Emory, sailed in the bark _Caroline_, and
+arrived at Cape San Lucas, in Lower California, on October 28th.
+
+Here they made a brief stay before continuing their voyage to La Paz.
+They captured that town, together with the governor, Espanosa, on
+November 3rd. Three days later a vessel arrived with the Mexican
+colonel, Robollero, appointed to supersede Espanosa; him also they took
+prisoner. Walker, being now in possession of the government and the
+archives, called an election, which resulted in his being chosen
+president. His report does not state whether or not he had any rival
+for the honour. Ten others of the adventurers were chosen to fill the
+several offices, civil, military and naval. Thirty-four remained mere
+citizens, as there were not "offices enough to go around." "Our
+government," wrote the President, "has been formed upon a firm and sure
+basis." However absurd the proceedings seem to us, in the light of the
+sequel, to him they appeared the solemn inception of free institutions
+and a glorious future. A high-sounding proclamation was issued,
+including a declaration of independence. Two months afterwards Walker
+annexed, on paper, the neighboring province of Sonora, and changed the
+name of the Republic to "Sonora," comprising the State of that name and
+Lower California. As yet he had not set foot upon the new half of his
+domain.
+
+His friends in California were active in the meanwhile. Recruiting
+offices were opened in San Francisco, to which flocked the desperate,
+the adventurous, the reckless from every land. The Federal Government
+could not, at least, it did not, take active steps to check them.
+Between two and three hundred men were enlisted, and their passage
+engaged on the bark _Anita_. The name of the vessel and the date
+of her departure were kept secret from all but the leaders of the
+party.
+
+On the appointed evening, December 7, 1853, they gathered at
+head-quarters. Horses and waggons were in readiness, and in a brief
+time the ammunition and supplies were on the deck of the _Anita_.
+Before midnight the embarkation was made, and the ship swung into the
+stream. A tow-boat carried her out of the harbour in safety. Before
+casting loose the lines several of the _Anita's_ sailors secretly stole
+on board the tow-boat, their desertion not being perceived until the
+bark was beyond hail and ploughing the waves of the Pacific. The
+adventurers have been described by a friendly writer as "a hard set."
+They observed their departure by a merry carouse, the while the good
+bark tossed on the ocean swell and her captain cursed his recreant crew
+and his boisterous freight. Then the wind arose. A sea swept the decks,
+carrying overboard a dozen barrels of pork and making a clean breach
+through her starboard bulwarks. The adventurers awoke next morning,
+sobered and sick. A few of them who had been sailors volunteered to aid
+in working the vessel. The relief came none too soon, as it was found
+that the ship had been dragging her anchor and several fathom of cable
+all night, the deserters having failed to make it fast. The filibusters
+grimly consoled themselves with the reflection that they had not been
+born to be drowned.
+
+Arrived at San Vincente, the reinforcements went into camp, amusing
+themselves, while they awaited orders to march, by foraging on the
+scattered ranches. Horses were procured by forced levies, and paid for
+in the promissory notes of the "Republic." Here for the first time
+Walker displayed the traits of stern command which afterwards made his
+name a word of terror in the ears of men who feared nothing else, human
+or divine. Half a score of the boldest desperadoes in camp formed a
+plot to blow up the magazine at night and desert with what plunder they
+might be able to seize in the confusion of the moment. To carry out
+their plan involved the risk of killing many of their comrades, as the
+ammunition was kept in the middle of the camp. Notice of the plot
+reached Walker, who had two of the ringleaders tried by court-martial
+and summarily shot. Two others were publicly whipped and drummed out of
+camp. Walker then ordered a muster of the troops, and after making a
+stirring appeal to them, called upon all who were willing to abide by
+his fortunes to hold up their hands. All of the original forty-five,
+and a few of the _rancherio_ passengers, responded; the others
+shouldered their rifles and prepared to march. Walker confronted the
+recreants, and quietly ordered them to stack their arms, a command
+which, after some hesitation, they obeyed. They were then suffered to
+leave the camp. Less than a hundred men now formed the army of the
+republic. He gave orders to march to Sonora by the mountain paths,
+around the head of the Gulf of California. They buried the arms and
+ammunition of the deserters in _cachés_. Two men deserted on the march
+and joined the Indians, who harried the little band at every step.
+
+The river Colorado was crossed on rafts. Disease and desertion thinned
+the ranks. The wounded died for lack of proper treatment, as there was
+not a case of surgical instruments in the army. They extracted
+arrow-heads from their wounds with probes improvised from ramrods.
+Every morning's roll-call showed a dwindling force. Beef was the only
+food left. Two men quarrelled over a handful of parched corn, and one
+shot the other dead. They were in rags. The President of Sonora,
+wearing a boot on one foot, a shoe on the other, fared no better than
+his followers. Those followers soon numbered less than fifty. A council
+of war was held, and it was decided to return to San Vincente. The
+Mexicans hung upon their flanks and rear, cutting off every straggler.
+Recrossing the mountains, they narrowly escaped annihilation in a gorge
+which widened out at the middle to a plateau of half a mile across,
+with a narrow opening at either end. Half way across the plains the
+Indians appeared on flank and front and opened a galling fire. Walker
+here showed coolness and generalship. Leaving twelve men hidden in a
+clump of bushes under command of Lieutenant P. S. Veeder, a cool young
+soldier, afterwards distinguished in Nicaragua, he retreated with the
+rest of the command towards the entrance of the valley. The passage had
+already been closed by the enemy's forces, who met the retiring party
+with an ill-aimed volley of arrows and bullets. At the same time those
+guarding the other pass joined their friends on the flanks in charging
+the Americans. As they passed the thicket where Veeder and his men lay
+in ambush, they received a deadly volley at short range. Every bullet
+struck down its man. Walker at the same time turned and delivered an
+equally well-aimed fire, which put the enemy to full flight. The two
+detachments then passed unmolested through the further defile before
+the astonished natives could be rallied to the charge. No bribes of
+_aguardiente_, with which the Mexicans were wont to ply their Indian
+allies could thenceforth induce the natives to face the deadly American
+rifles. They hung upon the line of march like coyotes, prowling about
+the late scene of each encampment, and robbing each new-made grave of
+its tenant's blanket, the only shroud of the poor filibuster who fell
+in the waste places of Sonora.
+
+At San Vincente, where Walker had left in March a party of eighteen men
+to guard the barracks, he found not one remaining. A dozen had
+deserted, and the rest, unsuspicious of danger, had been swooped upon
+by a band of mounted Mexicans, who lassoed and tortured them to death.
+So many successive reverses sealed the fate of the expedition. To wait
+for reinforcements, even could they have come, from California was
+hopeless. Walker had but thirty-five men remaining. They were destitute
+of everything but ammunition and weapons; of these they had more than
+enough. At various places they had buried boxes of carbines and
+pistols. Eight guns were spiked at San Vincente. A hundred kegs of
+powder were cached on the banks of the Rio Colorado. Years afterwards
+the peon herdsmen or prowling Cucupa Indian stumbled, in the mountain
+by-paths, over the bleaching skeleton of some nameless one whose
+resting-place was marked by no cross or cairn, but the Colt's revolver
+rusting beside his bones bespoke his country and his occupation--the
+only relic of the would-be Conquistadores of the nineteenth century.
+
+The stolid native who had sworn fealty to the mushroom republic, under
+pain of imprisonment for refusal, easily forgot his oath when the
+accursed "Gringo" had turned his back. The _rancherio_, whose sole
+mementos of vanished horses and cattle were the bonds of the Republic
+of Sonora, vainly proffered those securities at the cock-pit and the
+monté-table. The American of the North had come and gone like a
+pestilence, or like his ante-type of buccaneering days; nought remained
+save disappointed ambition with the one, and a bitter memory with the
+other.
+
+The invasion was every way inexcusable. That his interference was
+unwelcome to the natives Walker soon found out; nor was he slow to
+learn that nothing less formidable than an army of occupation, backed
+by a strong power, could push his cherished dream of a new conquest of
+Mexico beyond the unsubstantial realms of fantasy.
+
+With sinking heart, but bearing the calm front which never failed him,
+he led his starving, travel-worn band toward the California frontier.
+The natives made a feeble show of opposing their retreat. A host of
+ill-trained soldiery, formidable only in numbers, held the mountain
+heights; their Indian allies were drawn up on the plain to contest the
+passage. Colonel Melendrez, commanding the Mexican forces, sent four
+Indians with a flag of truce into the filibuster camp, bearing an offer
+of protection and free passage across the American border to all except
+the leader; Walker, with all the arms of the company, must be first
+given up. Such an offer would have been rejected, in the face of
+certain death, by men familiar as these were with the Punic faith of
+the Spaniard. Made as it was to men who had followed their chieftain
+through hunger and want, battle and defeat, up to this moment, when
+they could see their country's flag waving over the United States
+military camp across the border, it was treated with scornful laughter.
+Melendrez then begged the United States commander to interfere and
+compel the surrender, a request which, as it could not have been
+granted without a violation of Mexican territory, was properly refused.
+Three miles of road lay between the filibusters and the boundary line.
+Walker, resorting to strategy, left half a dozen men concealed behind
+some rocks to cover his retreat. The natives, with a wholesome dread of
+the American rifle, followed him at what seemed a safe distance and
+rode straight into the ambush. Half a dozen rifles emptied as many
+saddles, whereupon Melendrez and his Mexicans galloped off at full
+speed, leaving their Indian allies to follow as best they might. The
+filibusters lost one man, a victim to his own indiscretion in having
+borrowed a leaf from the enemy's tactics and fortified his courage with
+too much _aguardiente_.
+
+So ended the last battle of the Republic of Sonora--if it be not a
+travesty to call by the name of battle a fruitless fight between a
+score of men on one side and a hundred ignorant savages on the other.
+Four and thirty tattered, hungry, gaunt pedestrians, whimsically
+representing in their persons the president, cabinet, army and navy of
+Sonora, marched across the line and surrendered as prisoners of war to
+Major Mckinstry, U.S.A., at San Diego, California. It was the 8th of
+May, 1854; and so Walker kept his thirtieth birthday.
+
+A parole, pledging the prisoners to present themselves for trial to
+General Wool, at San Francisco, was signed by all, after which they
+were allowed to depart.
+
+Of those starving, wounded, battle-scarred survivors of several months'
+accumulated miseries the names signed to the parole contain at least
+six of men who had love for their leader, or enough of unconquerable
+daring, to send them, twelve months later, in search of fresh dangers
+and glories under the same commander.
+
+Walker came back from Sonora, defeated but not disheartened. He had
+proved himself a leader of men, even in so small an arena. Thenceforth,
+until his star of "destiny" was eclipsed in death, his name was worth a
+thousand men wherever hard fighting and desperate hopes might call him.
+It must be said in his favour that he sought popularity by none of the
+tricks of the demagogue. In camp or field he was ever the same cold,
+self-contained, fearless commander, inflexible in discipline, sparing
+of speech, prodigal of action. He won the devoted obedience of the
+wildest spirits by governing himself. His word of command was not "Go,"
+but "Come"--the Napoleonic talisman. Only to the youngest of his
+followers would he ever unbend his solitary dignity. One of them, whose
+name, William Pfaff, appears on the San Diego parole, was a youth of
+fifteen. He was with difficulty restrained from following his leader to
+Nicaragua. He lived through four years of service in our Civil War, but
+no dangers or hardships could erase the memory of his experience in
+Sonora. "The rebellion was a picnic to it," said he, in the fine
+hyperbole of California.
+
+The trial of the filibuster leader for breaking the neutrality laws
+of the United States ended in a prompt acquittal. Walker resumed
+the editorial chair, supporting Broderick in the _San Francisco
+Commercial_, the personal organ of that ill-fated politician. Let us
+leave the filibuster in his Elba, and visit the country which was
+destined to become the scene of his dazzling but brief career of glory,
+defeat, and death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Nicaragua--"Mahomet's Paradise"--Buccaneering visitors--Philip II. and
+an Isthmian Canal--Nelson defeated by a girl--The apocryphal heroine of
+San Carlos.
+
+
+Nature in lavishing her favours on Nicaragua, left little for man to
+add. It is a tropical country with a temperate climate, one half of its
+territory having a mean elevation of 5,000 feet above the level of the
+sea. In that favoured land the primeval curse is stayed; where nature
+forestalls every necessity, no need for man to toil or want. Fruits
+grow in the reckless profusion of the tropics, and clothing is a
+superfluity wisely counted as such. Two-hundred and fifty thousand
+children, young and old, occupy a domain as large as New England. They
+are poor in accumulated wealth as the poorest peasantry of Europe; they
+are rich, knowing no want unsatisfied, as a nation of millionaires. But
+Nicaragua is a country in which to study with doubt the doctrine of the
+survival of the fittest. The early discoverers called it "Mahomet's
+Paradise," an apt name for a land of sensuous happiness.
+
+There man reaps without sowing, and the harvest never fails. He has but
+to stretch forth his hand and feast on dainties such as seldom grace
+the tables of kings; the citron, the lemon, the orange (with often
+10,000 on a single tree), the banana, the mango, the papaya, the cocoa,
+the tamarind, the milk-tree, the butter tree, and a spontaneous
+perennial growth of coffee, cacao, sugar, tobacco, and everything that
+grows or can be grown in any tropical or temperate clime. Half the year
+he may sling his hammock beneath the shady trees. In the rainy season a
+few stakes and a thatch of palm leaves afford him ample shelter.
+Medicinal trees and herbs abound everywhere, for the relief of the few
+ills to which his flesh is heir. Birds of gayest plumage, flowers of
+loveliest hue, greet his eyes on every side. In the noble forests,
+where the pine and the palm grow beside the ceiba, the mimosa, and the
+stately cactus, the splendours of the rainbow are rivalled in the
+plumage of parrots, macaws, humming-birds, toucans, and the beautiful
+winged creature that bears the imperial name of Montezuma. It is the
+latest and the fairest land of earth, and the heavenly radiance of
+youth is on its face. So young, that the fires of nature's workshop
+have not yet died out. The volcano, towering thousands of feet towards
+heaven, still smoulders or flames, and the earth is shaken ever and
+anon by the engines of the Titans. Ometepe the glorious lifts his
+cloud-capped head five thousand feet out of the placid bosom of Lake
+Nicaragua; Madera, his neighbour, is but eight hundred feet less lofty.
+Momotombo and Mombacho and El Viejo, and the twin peaks which watch the
+mouth of Fonseca Bay, are flaming swords guarding the Eden to which the
+serpent has come, as of old, with a human tongue.
+
+Little note takes the Nicaraguan of the lavish favours of nature, whose
+grandest mystery but awakens a languid _Quien Sabe?_ and whose most
+winning plea extorts only a more languid _Poco tiempo_--the eternal by
+and by of indolence. One per cent. of the whole population makes a show
+of studying the elements of education. Why should they vex their souls
+in search of knowledge, when all that life needs can be had for the
+asking? Not, surely, to heap up wealth. Nature takes care even of that,
+for money grows upon trees of Nicaragua--that is to say, the fractional
+currency of the people is nuts, one cacao-nut being equal to a fortieth
+of a _medio_ in value, and passing current as such in all the smaller
+affairs of trade. Nor is it worth the trouble of mastering letters
+where illiteracy is no bar to civil or military advancement, and where,
+especially if the "Serviles" be in power, an unlettered bandit ranks
+almost as high as a rascally advocate. In the days of President
+Chamorro the most notorious ruffians held high office, the revenues of
+the state were farmed out on the system which prevails to-day only in
+the more barbarous parts of Asia, so that it was a saying in the
+neighboring states, where, too, glass-houses are not scarce, that "the
+calf was not safe in the cow, from the thieves of Nicaragua."
+
+It was not always so in Nicaragua. Years before the mail-clad Spaniard
+brought the curse of civilization across the western ocean, the simple
+Aztec built his altars to the sun on every hill-top from sea to sea.
+Centuries ere the Aztec, there flourished a semi-civilized race whose
+history is written in hieroglyphics of a language utterly dead and
+forgotten, and who have left no lineal descendants. Even such fragments
+of Aztec lore as survived the fanaticism of the Conquistadores in
+Mexico are wanting to the annals of the earlier Central American
+civilization. It was a culture of rich growth in its day and place,
+destined like that of the contemporary Roman Empire, to tempt the
+cupidity of a hardier race, and after an unavailing struggle, to fall
+before the might of numbers and superior physique. Howbeit, the Aztec
+Goths and Vandals overran the isthmus, and when the Spanish invasion
+came, it met only the late subjects of Montezuma's widespread,
+ill-governed kingdom.
+
+The religion of Nicaragua before the conquest was a gloomy idolatry.
+The predecessors of the Aztec are conjectured to have been a gentle
+race, but no match in prowess for their conquerors. The Spaniards found
+a people of sun-worshippers degraded by human sacrifice and attendant
+cannibalism. Between them and distant Anahuac, to which they owed
+allegiance, lay the dense forests and trackless swamps of Yucatan. The
+journey by land at this day is long and toilsome. Cortez, nevertheless,
+projected and carried out an exploration as far as Honduras, until his
+appalled veterans refused to go further southward.
+
+Don Pedrarias d'Avila, Governor of Panama, undertook its exploration
+from the south in 1514. Nine years later he was encouraged to send a
+force for its subjugation, under command of Francisco de Cordova, who
+secured the submission of its cacique, Nicarao or Nicaya. The
+conquerors gave that chieftain's name to his country. They founded Leon
+and Granada, which have remained its leading cities. Nicaragua gave a
+few recruits to Pizarro. Philip II., with narrow-minded foresight, sent
+a commission to survey the isthmus and judge of the feasibility of
+cutting a ship canal. The report was favourable, the route by way of
+Panama being chosen. It was too favourable, as it pointed out the
+advantages of such a passage to international commerce. Spain did not
+want such broad liberality, and Philip decreed the punishment of death
+to any one who might thereafter propose to wed the two oceans together.
+But, as high tariffs encourage smuggling, so prohibited commerce takes
+refuge in privateering. The Buccaneers arose to dispute with Spain the
+monopoly of her American trade. The isthmus suffered most from their
+ravages. Panama, then as now, the most important city on the coast, was
+the depôt for the royal treasure gathered at the adjacent mines of
+Cana. Drake paid it a predatory visit in 1586. It was afterwards taken
+and sacked at different times by Morgan, Sharpe, Ringrose, and Dampier.
+It was burned three times between 1670 and 1680. Finally it was
+abandoned for the new town, three miles inland.
+
+Nicaragua, though liable to predatory forays, had not wealth enough to
+tempt the buccaneers from richer prey. Cape Gracias a Dios, on its
+north-eastern boundary, was a rendezvous of the freebooters; but the
+Atlantic coast was even less inviting to the plunder-seekers than the
+Pacific. The narratives of the buccaneers touch lightly on it. Its name
+of the Mosquito Coast appears to have been well deserved. De Lussan
+speaks with lively horror of the pestiferous little insect which "is
+sooner felt than seen."
+
+The buccaneers passed away, but left a legacy. Great Britain in 1742
+laid claim to the Bay Islands, which had been captured by English
+buccaneers just a century before. A war with Spain ensued, without
+material gain to either party. By the treaty of 1763, England renounced
+her claim on Central America, and evacuated all the disputed territory,
+except the Island of Ruatan, on the Atlantic coast of Honduras, a
+shirking of her obligations which awakened a renewal of hostilities. In
+1780 Colonel Polson was sent to invade Nicaragua. Landing a force of
+two hundred sailors and marines at San Juan del Norte, he ascended the
+river in boats, carrying with little trouble the half-dozen fortified
+positions on its banks. At the head of the river, where it receives the
+waters of Lake Nicaragua, the expedition was confronted by the frowning
+batteries of Fort San Carlos, then, as now, guarding the mouth of the
+lake.
+
+At this point in the narrative, history and tradition part company, the
+former averring, upon historical and biographical English authority,
+that Horatio Nelson, then a simple unknown captain commanding the naval
+forces, reduced the fort, inflicted a severe chastisement upon the
+enemy and returned victorious to his ships. Tradition tells a prettier
+story.
+
+As the flotilla neared the shore in line of battle, the stillness was
+unbroken, save by the plash of their oars and the music of the surf.
+Not a soldier was visible on the ramparts, for the cowardly varlets of
+the garrison, taking advantage of the Commandante's sickness, had fled
+to the woods at the first sight of the enemy. The gallant hidalgo in
+command was left without a single attendant, save his lovely daughter.
+But she was a true soldier's child, with the spirit of a heroine. The
+boats drew rapidly near the shore, their oars flashing in the morning
+sun, the gunners awaiting with lighted matches the order to fire.
+Nelson stood up to bid his men give way, and at the instant a flash was
+seen in one of the embrasures of the fort; the next moment the roar of
+a cannon broke the stillness of lake and forest. Immediately gun after
+gun echoed the sound, but the first had done the work of an army, by
+striking down Horatio Nelson. The boats pulled rapidly out of range and
+down the river, beaten and discouraged. Nor did they escape heavier
+losses; for the Spaniards so harassed and plagued them on the retreat
+that, of the two hundred men who had started from San Juan, but ten
+returned in safety. Nelson's wound cost him the loss of an eye; and he
+who had never turned his back on a foe-man fled from the guns of San
+Carlos, served by a girl of sixteen. It was the Commandante's daughter,
+Donna Rafaela Mora, who had fired the battery and saved Nicaragua. The
+heroine of Fort San Carlos was decorated by the King of Spain,
+commissioned a colonel in the royal service, and pensioned for life.
+
+Such is the tradition, accepted as authentic by the natives and
+supported by the testimony of several trustworthy travellers. None of
+Nelson's biographers make mention of the heroic maiden. According to
+those historians, Nelson ascended the river as far as Fort San
+Juan--probably Castillo Viejo--which he reduced after a somewhat
+protracted siege and a heavy loss to his forces. They place the scene
+of the accident by which he lost his eye at the siege of Calvi, in the
+Island of Corsica. Yet Captain Bedford Pim, of the Royal Navy, in his
+book of Nicaraguan travel, gives unquestioning credence to the legend
+of the country; which has also been accepted by other English writers
+who may be supposed to have a familiar acquaintance with the life of
+Nelson. So firmly is it believed in Nicaragua that, upon the strength
+of his inherited glory, General Martinez, a grandson of the heroine,
+was chosen President of the state in 1857, although there was at the
+time a regularly-elected President claiming and lawfully entitled to
+the office--a fact which should suffice to silence the most captious
+critic. In an iconoclastic age it were needless cruelty to rob the poor
+Nicaraguan of the only bit of heroic history he possesses. Possibly
+Nelson's biographers suppressed an incident which did not redound to
+the glory of their hero; perchance, his Catholic Majesty was imposed
+upon, or the tradition of the Maid of San Carlos may be but another
+transplanted solar myth. _Quien sabe?_
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+British intrigues on the Isthmus--Morazan and the Confederacy--The
+Mosquito Dynasty--Bombardment of San Juan--Castellon calls in the
+foreigner--Doubleday and his free lances--Cole's contract approved by
+Walker.
+
+
+So long as Central America remained a province of Spain, England's
+policy was one of peaceful words and hostile deeds. Binding herself, by
+treaty after treaty, to the renunciation of all claims upon the
+country, she steadily maintained and extended her hold upon various
+objective points--Ruatan, Belize, and the Bay Islands which command the
+Gulf of Mexico, being her favourite spoils. Some equivocal clause in a
+treaty, a frivolous pretence of avenging some imaginary dishonour, a
+buccaneer's legacy, a negro king's grant, if no better offered, was put
+forward as the excuse for armed occupation. Spain's ill-gotten
+possessions were beginning to bear the usual fruit. At length, in 1821,
+the colonies of the isthmus heard the cry of liberty from the North
+echoed by a responsive one from the South. Spanish America shook the
+chain fretted and worn in the friction of centuries, snapped the frail
+links asunder, and stood up among the nations, free. But the iron had
+done its work. The cramped limbs refused their offices; the eyes, wont
+to peer half closed in dungeon light, blinked and were dazed in the
+sudden noon of liberty. The body was that of a freeman, but the soul
+was the soul of a slave. When liberty comes to a nation prematurely,
+she must be born again in pain and travail ere the boon be valued by
+its receiver.
+
+A disunited union of a few years' duration, a travesty of power under
+Iturbide's pasteboard crown, secession, reunion, discord,
+revolution--the annals of Central America are the Newgate Calendar of
+history. Yet, among the ignoble or infamous names of Central American
+rulers, there is one worthy of a brighter page, as its owner was of a
+better fate. Don Francisco Morazan, first president of the five united
+states, hardly deserved the title given him of the "Washington of
+Central America." He was an able, brave, and patriotic man, but cruel
+and vindictive towards his opponents. He was chosen to the presidency
+in 1831, and filled the office nine years; at the end of which time the
+natives had grown heartily tired of the civilized innovations, which
+were as unfitted to their inferior nature as the stiff garments of
+fashion to their supple limbs. Morazan had neither the grace nor the
+wisdom to accept philosophically the people's choice of a reactionary
+demagogue who catered to their tastes, and so he began to intrigue
+against the government of his successor, failing in which he was forced
+to fly to South America. Two years afterwards he landed with only three
+hundred followers in Costa Rica, and made himself master of the
+capital. But the President of that state soon rallied a force of five
+thousand and besieged the invader, who, after a gallant resistance of
+two days, was compelled to surrender. He was tried and found guilty of
+conspiring against the confederated states, and was put to death,
+together with his chief adherents, on the 15th of September, 1842.
+Guatemala ended the troublesome question of representative government
+in 1851 by electing Carrera, a half-breed, to the office of president
+for life.
+
+The states of Central America, torn by internal strife, wasting their
+scant resources in fruitless wars and sad faction fights, were fast
+lapsing into a barbarism below that of Nicarao when he bowed to the
+Spanish yoke. Untainted by foreign blood, the independent native tribes
+proved themselves superior to the mongrel descendants of Cordova and
+D'Avila. The Indians of Darien and the Rio Frio region and the
+mountains of northern Costa Rica to this day preserve their freedom,
+whilst Nicaragua and Costa Rica have been wrangling, year after year,
+for the empty honour of being called their sovereign.
+
+To this man-cursed land nature had given a noble heritage, coveted by
+many a powerful nation, though none dared clutch it single-handed. It
+is the lake, or inland sea, which covers five thousand square miles of
+the state, elevated one hundred and seven feet above the mean
+tide-level of the ocean, a natural reservoir, with an outlet ninety
+miles long--the San Juan river. By making this outlet navigable for
+large vessels, a comparatively easy work, and by cutting a canal
+sixteen and one-third miles in length, across the neck of land lying
+between the Lake and the Pacific Ocean, a highway could be opened to
+the commerce of the world, whose benefits it would be hard to
+over-estimate. It was a noble scheme, appealing to the enterprise of
+the civilized world and to the enlightened statesmanship of men like
+Bolivar and Morazan. Humboldt advocated it. Louis Napoleon beguiled his
+prison hours at Ham by writing a pamphlet showing its feasibility and
+need. As a commercial undertaking, its value was beyond question: the
+eye of national aggrandizement saw in it even more alluring features.
+The nation that should control that canal might be the dictator of
+America. Such nation was not, and could not be, that which, like the
+nerveless Ottoman, holds a point of vantage by the right of
+geographical position and by that alone. The power which held the key
+to the Mediterranean, and stood ready to seize the Isthmus of Suez,
+looked wistfully towards Nicaragua. Many and plausible were the dormant
+claims of England upon the territory of her weak enemy. For years she
+had exercised a nominal protectorate over the eastern coast known as
+the Mosquito kingdom.
+
+The monarchs of Mosquito were ignorant negroes, ruling a scattered
+tribe, the savage descendants of a slave cargo wrecked upon the coast
+in the seventeenth century. They were appointed at various times by
+British man-of-war captains, being installed or dethroned at the will
+of their masters. Nicaragua, while never acknowledging this authority,
+lacked power to assert her own over the comparatively worthless tracts
+of her eastern coast, holding possession only of the river and town of
+San Juan. In 1839, the reigning king of Mosquito, His Majesty Robert
+Charles Frederick the First, cancelled a debt contracted for sundry
+liquors and other royal supplies, by making a grant of territory
+amounting to twenty-two and a half million acres or more. The grantees,
+Peter and Samuel Shepard, transferred the grant to the Central American
+Colonization Company, an American Association. This was the foundation
+of what became afterwards known as the Kinney Expedition.
+
+The royal line of Mosquito may be classed among the unfortunate
+dynasties of the world. The first monarch, whose name is lost to
+history, was killed in a drunken brawl; his half-brother and successor
+was dethroned by a British captain, who placed a distant scion, George
+Frederick by name, on the vacant throne. The reign of the latter was
+short. His son, Robert Charles Frederick the First, was a merry
+monarch, "scandalous and poor," who sold his birthright to the Shepards
+for a mess of Jamaica rum and sundry pairs of cotton breeches. His son,
+George William Clarence, was reigning in 1850.
+
+The superior swiftness of American ships had enabled the United States
+to forestall their English rivals in seizing California; whereupon the
+latter took the bold step, in 1848, of occupying at the same time Tigre
+Island, on the Pacific coast of the isthmus, and San Juan del Norte, on
+the Atlantic, which latter place they christened Greytown, in honour of
+a governor of Jamaica. England thus had the keys of the isthmus in her
+hands; the canal, worthless without a safe entrance and exit, might
+fall to the lot of him who chose the barren glory of building it. But,
+strange to say, the United States possessed at that time a useful
+diplomatic servant in their minister to Central America, the Honourable
+E. G. Squier, one, moreover, whose claim to honour rests upon a broader
+basis than the thankless triumphs of public service. He promptly
+seconded the protest of Honduras against the utterly indefensible
+robbery of her territory, Tigre Island. His government took up the
+question, and the island was reluctantly given up.
+
+At the same time, the United States formally protested against the
+seizure of San Juan. Long and wordy negotiations ensued, ending in the
+so-called Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. It was a practical victory for Great
+Britain, as it entrapped the American Government into an obligation to
+refrain from "ever holding any exclusive control over the said ship
+canal, erecting or maintaining any fortifications commanding the same,
+or in the vicinity thereof, occupying, fortifying, colonizing or
+assuming or exercising any dominion over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the
+Mosquito Coast, or any part of Central America." Great Britain, with
+apparent fairness, bound herself to equal neutrality. The difference
+was that the United States promised to abstain from ever taking any
+steps to control the only avenue then available between the Eastern and
+the Western States of the Union, thus being placed upon the same
+footing with distant European nations which could have no such vital
+interests in the isthmus. Great Britain agreed to refrain from acts
+which were not only dangerous and inexcusable, but of very doubtful
+feasibility. Another difference: the United States kept the pledge;
+Great Britain broke it within fourteen months. The treaty was signed by
+both parties, and proclaimed on the 5th of July, 1850. In August of the
+following year, Captain Jolly, of the Royal Navy, solemnly annexed the
+island of Ruatan to the colony of Belize, which, notwithstanding the
+treaty, had remained a nominal dependency of England. In July, 1852,
+Augustus Frederick Gore, Colonial Secretary of Belize, proclaimed that
+"Her Gracious Majesty, our Queen, has been pleased to constitute and
+make the islands of Ruatan, Bonacca, Utilla, Barbarat, Helene, and
+Morat to be a colony to be known and designated as the Colony of the
+Bay Islands." It was the buccaneer's legacy _redivivus_.
+
+Now, if ever, was a favourable time for the application of a theory set
+forth by a President of the United States nearly thirty years before:
+"That the American Continents, by the free and independent position
+which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be
+considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power."
+So reads the extract from President Monroe's seventh annual message,
+dated the 2nd December, 1823, and known as the "Monroe Doctrine." This
+bold assumption of a protectorate over two continents was nothing more
+than the expression of its author's private opinion, unsupported by
+official action, either at home or abroad. But it fell like a bombshell
+into the diplomatic circles of the world. It was criticized, derided,
+repudiated by every nation of Europe; but it was secretly feared and
+not openly disobeyed by any, even in the much-vexed discussion of the
+Central American question. England carefully based her claim to the
+coveted territory upon the alleged facts of long possession and
+colonization. It is needless to say that the "Monroe Doctrine," even
+had it been incorporated in the American constitution, could not have
+been entertained for a moment in the high court of nations, save after
+the manner that such doubtful claims are always conceded to the right
+of might.
+
+The British no longer claimed for themselves or their royal puppets of
+Mosquito, authority over the port of San Juan. Nevertheless, the
+traditional British man-of-war within a day's sail of anywhere
+continued to haunt the Caribbean Sea. The Transit Company's steamers
+sailed regularly between New York and San Juan. In May, 1854, a captain
+of one of them shot a negro in the streets of San Juan, and fled from
+arrest to the United States Consulate. The American minister, Borland,
+refused to surrender the fugitive to the officers of justice. A mob
+surrounded the consulate, and during the fray which ensued the minister
+was hit on the cheek by a bottle thrown by some rioter. Consul Fabens,
+then on board the steamer _Northern Light_, sent a boat ashore to take
+off the minister and his criminal guest, Captain Smith. Before the
+steamer sailed with the minister on board, a guard of fifty Americans
+was armed and left behind to protect the Transit Company's property at
+Puntas Arenas, a point of land opposite the town of San Juan. The boat
+which carried Minister Borland to the steamer was fired upon by the
+natives, but, as it appears, not with fatal results. Still the
+indignity offered to the representative of a great nation must be
+atoned for. The United States sloop-of-war _Cyane_ was sent out as
+soon as the matter was reported at Washington. Her commander, Captain
+Hollins, on arriving off the town, found the inevitable British
+man-of-war lying between him and the shore. He promptly notified the
+Nicaraguan authorities of his intention to bombard the town, which was
+thereupon hastily evacuated. The captain of H.B.M. ship _Express_
+refused to move out of range, until the guns of the _Cyane_ had been
+trained to rake his decks, when he reluctantly dropped astern, after
+protesting that the American superiority of armament alone saved the
+dispute from being settled by the last argument of kings and captains.
+The disparity is to be regretted, in view of the wearisome and vain
+diplomacy afterwards spent upon a question which force alone, or the
+show of it, could finally settle.
+
+While the guns of the _Cyane_ were squandering powder on the frail
+huts of San Juan in lieu of a worthier target, Nicaragua was too deeply
+engrossed in her usual internecine strife to resent the outrage from
+abroad. Don Fruto Chamorro, who succeeded Pineda as president in 1851,
+found himself towards the close of his term, ambitious of another lease
+of power. Chamorro was the leader of the Legitimist, or Servile party,
+as it was called; Don Francisco Castellon was the choice of the Liberal
+or Democratic party. At the biennial election in 1853, both parties
+claimed the victory, and, as is usual in such disputes, possession was
+the strongest point of law. Chamorro proclaimed himself duly elected,
+and was installed in office at Granada, the chief city of the Servile
+faction. Leon, the larger and more prosperous city, favoured the cause
+of Castellon, whereupon Chamorro promptly arrested his rival with
+several of his adherents, and banished them from the country. They took
+refuge in Honduras, whose president, Cabañas, received them hospitably.
+Chamorro, to make his position more secure, had himself, on April 30,
+1854, proclaimed president for two terms or four years. A usurpation so
+bold was calculated to defeat its own object.
+
+Castellon landed at Realejo within a week after its declaration, with
+only thirty-six followers. The Leonese rallied to his support, and
+drove Chamorro out of the department and into the Servile stronghold,
+the city of Granada. Soon after they obtained control of the lake and
+river and laid siege to Granada. The siege lasted nine months without
+material advantage on either side. Castellon was proclaimed Provisional
+Director by his party. Chamorro dying on the 12th of March, 1855, was
+succeeded by Senator Don Jose Maria Estrada, a weak substitute for his
+brave, popular, and ambitious predecessor. Each party had now a _de
+facto_ president. General Jose Trinidad Munoz, a veteran of Santa
+Ana's, and like that luckless hero, fully impressed with the delusion
+that he was a physical and mental counterpart of the great Napoleon,
+commanded the army of Castellon. The Serviles were headed by Don
+Ponciano Corral, a clever, unscrupulous man, who relied upon the
+military assistance of adjacent states to strengthen the arms of his
+party.
+
+Such was the state of affairs in Nicaragua in August, 1854, when an
+American, named Byron Cole, presented himself before Castellon with a
+novel offer. Cole, who had been formerly a Boston editor, was
+proprietor of the newspaper which we left under the editorial
+management of the late President of Sonora. His faith in the military
+genius of his editor was in nowise abated by the disastrous end of the
+Sonora expedition. Arriving in the camp of the Democrats when their
+earlier conquests were gradually slipping from their hands, and the
+long siege of Granada had been raised in despair, Cole's offer of aid
+was eagerly embraced by Castellon and his party.
+
+They had already known and rated the value of the American rifleman as
+an auxiliary. At an early period of the civil war, an adventurous
+California pioneer, named C. W. Doubleday, found himself at the port of
+San Juan del Sur, the Pacific terminus of the Transit. He was
+homeward-bound after years of absence, but being thrown into the
+society of some Democratic leaders, he did not require much persuasion
+before deciding to abandon his cabin passage, already paid to New York,
+and become an apostle of Democratic principles among his fellow
+passengers. He worked with such good effect that thirty of them
+volunteered under his lead and marched to the aid of the army investing
+Granada. They were reckless fighters, who looked upon Central American
+warfare as holiday pastime. Nevertheless, although reinforced from time
+to time by occasional American recruits, who had drifted into the
+country on their way to or from California, ere the siege was raised
+they had been reduced by war and disease to the number of four.
+Doubleday then organized from the flower of the native army a corps of
+sharpshooters with whom he covered the retreat to Leon, losing nearly
+all his company, but impressing the native soldiery with a favourable
+opinion of the Americans as bold and reckless fighters.
+
+Cole's plan to bring in a formidable American contingent to aid the
+Democratic cause, came at a time when foreign help was doubly welcome.
+Castellon's Honduran allies had been abruptly recalled to meet an
+invasion of their own country by Guatemala. The Serviles, now in
+possession of lake and river, were slowly but surely advancing on Leon.
+The strength which the Leonese might have received from the Democratic
+states adjoining was needed by these at home to protect themselves
+against their aristocratic enemies, and against the alert, wily
+intrigues of European agents.
+
+Therefore, in October, 1854, Byron Cole made a contract with the
+government of Castellon to supply to the Democratic army three hundred
+American "colonists liable to military duty." The settlers should be
+entitled to a grant of 52,000 acres of land, and should have the
+privilege of becoming citizens upon a formal declaration of that
+intention. Cole took his contract and sailed for California to receive
+his chief's ratification.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Purchase of the _Vesta_--May 4th, 1855, sailing of the "Immortal
+Fifty-six"--The American Phalanx--First battle of Rivas--Punishing a
+desperado--Trouble in Castellon's Cabinet--Battle at Virgin Bay--Death
+of Castellon.
+
+
+Walker submitted the contract, worded with legal precision, to the
+civil and military authorities at San Francisco, and was gratified to
+learn that it in nowise threatened to violate the neutrality laws of
+the country. General Wool, to whom Walker had surrendered on his return
+from Sonora, professed himself satisfied; the district attorney of the
+United States found no flaw; but everybody in San Francisco knew that
+Walker was about to colonize Nicaragua with filibusters, and smiled at
+the peaceful fiction. The legal difficulties overcome, there remained
+the graver question of funds. To add to his embarrassments, Walker fell
+sick. It was late in April before he had succeeded in getting the few
+thousand dollars needed to charter and fit out a vessel. Meanwhile
+General Jerez, commanding the Democratic army at Leon, had made one or
+two contracts with other Americans, unknown to his superiors. The
+Granadinos, too, not to be behind their Democratic rivals, had sent Don
+Guadalupe Saenz to California to drum up recruits for their side. But
+nothing came of either venture, and the Leonese, now hemmed in their
+own department by the victorious Legitimists, looked wistfully for the
+coming of Walker. He at last succeeded in collecting the barely
+necessary amount of money, and cast about him for a suitable vessel to
+carry the new Argonauts.
+
+In the shipping intelligence of the day is chronicled amongst the
+clearances at the San Francisco Custom House, on April 21st, the brig
+_Vesta_, Captain Briggs, for Realejo, forty-seven passengers. She
+did not sail, however, though some fifty or sixty passengers had taken
+their quarters on board. For at the last moment a new obstacle arose.
+Walker had bought her outright, though she was a slow, unseaworthy
+craft, some thirty years old, as nothing better offered, and found out,
+when too late, that she was liable for several debts incurred by the
+former owners. The sheriff seized her and, for security, had her sails
+stripped off and stored on shore. New creditors with old claims also
+appeared, ready to serve other attachments as soon as the first should
+be dissolved. Everybody who held a claim, real or fictitious, against
+the luckless craft, hastened to present it, knowing that Walker must
+pay their demands or incur a delay of tedious litigation, and delay
+meant death to his hopes. A revenue cutter drew up alongside the brig,
+ready to prevent a possible attempt at departure. The expeditionists
+grew restive, but Walker quieted them with the promise of a speedy
+departure. Seeking out the creditor who had attached the vessel, Walker
+persuaded him to grant a release on easy terms, but it took his last
+cent to defray the sheriff's extravagant fees of three hundred dollars.
+The last charge was paid on the 3rd of May, and Walker was authorized
+to ask the revenue cutter's aid in having the brig's sails bent on,
+which was rapidly and noiselessly done at night. But though out of the
+hands of the Government officers, the _Vesta_ was still liable to
+detention by civil process, and a sheriff's keeper remained on board.
+The captain fearing to risk illegal steps, a new commander, M. D. Eyre,
+was hastily engaged. He went on board about midnight, having hired a
+towboat to carry the brig out to sea, and about the hour of one on the
+morning of May 4, 1855, the legal functionary was put on board the
+tow-boat, the lines cast off, and fifty-six filibusters embarked on a
+voyage of 2,700 miles in a crazy brig bound for a hostile port. A story
+is told that just before putting to sea, Walker invited the sheriff's
+officer into the cabin and addressed him briefly as follows: "Here,
+sir, are wine and cigars; also handcuffs and irons. Please make choice
+of which you will have. This vessel is going to sea." The officer,
+according to this rather apocryphal story, was a man of the world, and
+the _Vesta_ put to sea.
+
+Walker breathed more freely as the Golden Gate closed behind him, and
+the tug-boat _Resolute_, fading to a smoky speck on the water,
+loosened the last tenacious tentacle of the octopus--law. Harassed
+like Cortez by petty trials, he was, like him, sailing with a few
+chosen followers to a new destiny. He confided in the superiority of
+civilization over barbarism, and the certainty that he would receive
+his country's support the moment that success should first crown his
+arms: success which condones even greater faults than illegal warfare.
+The cost of failure he did not count. The stout-hearted hunter who
+enters a lion's den does not ask what will happen if nerve or steel
+fail him confronting his angry foe. Despite the result, there is
+something thrilling in the story of the fifty-six men who stole out of
+a harbour by night to conquer an empire--and all but succeeded! For
+not by armaments nor resources should such enterprises be judged, but
+by the deeds of the adventurers. As Prescott says, "It is not numbers
+that give importance to a conflict, but the consequences that depend
+upon it; the magnitude of the stake, and the skill and courage of the
+players--the more limited the means, even, the greater may be the
+science shown in the use of them."
+
+They sailed down the Pacific coast--a long and stormy voyage--and,
+after touching at Tigre Island for a pilot, cast anchor in the port of
+Realejo, Nicaragua, on the 16th day of June. Old Realejo, at which the
+_Vesta's_ voyage ended, was the site of a once prosperous Spanish
+town with a good harbour and deep tide-water; but so often had the
+buccaneers ravaged it, that the inhabitants had abandoned it and built
+a new town of the same name five miles further up the river, accessible
+only to boats of light draught. The strangers re-embarked in several
+canoes, or _bongoes_, hollowed from the ceiba tree, and by four
+o'clock that day arrived at New Realejo. Castellon and his cabinet were
+at Leon, the Democratic capital, whither Walker and Major Crocker set
+out the next day escorted by Colonel Ramirez and Captain Doubleday of
+the native army. The Provisional Director warmly received his new ally,
+and promptly and formally accepted the immigrants into the military
+service of Nicaragua. They were organized as a separate corps, under
+the name of "La Falange Americana," or American Phalanx, and placed
+under the immediate command of their own officers. Commissions were
+issued on the 20th of June to Walker as colonel, Achilles Kewen as
+lieutenant-colonel, and Timothy Crocker as major. Orders were given
+them at once to proceed by water to Rivas, in the Meridional
+department, which was held by the enemy. Colonel Ramirez, with two
+hundred natives, was detailed to help the Falange, but only half that
+number answered the roll-call, when the _Vesta_ weighed anchor at
+Realejo, on the 23rd of June.
+
+Walker had seen enough of his new friends to convince him that his
+ambition had nothing to fear from such rivals. Castellon was an amiable
+and irresolute gentleman; Munoz was ambitious and vain, but incapable.
+The native soldiery were ill-trained and fickle-minded. Faction had
+stifled any faint sparks of patriotism in their breasts. A few hundred
+of them who bore the proud title of _veteranos_, had smelt powder and
+could face an enemy after a march of forty miles under a tropical sun.
+They wore a tasteful uniform and carried muskets and knapsacks.
+
+But the hundred recruits of Ramirez were a Falstaffian corps of
+indolent, good-natured rascals, who devoted all the intervals between
+skirmishing to gambling and gossip. As their country's proverb hath it,
+"they would gamble away the sun before sunrise." In striking contrast
+with those children of nature were the men of California, with iron
+nerves and dauntless courage, in whose characters vice lost half its
+evil by losing, if not its grossness, all its meanness; men who "deemed
+no crime, or curse, or vice as dark as that of cowardice." Their
+manliness was incapable of treachery, falsehood, or the meaner
+passions, born of a society in which law, the only remedy for wrong,
+too easily becomes the strongest shield of the wrong-doer. Having
+summed up their virtues in the comprehensive ones of courage and
+loyalty, there is little else to be said in their favour. For
+themselves they would have asked no higher praise, and strict justice
+can accord them little beyond.
+
+It was a bold move to attack the enemy in his stronghold. Rivas and the
+adjoining country are the most densely populated parts of Nicaragua.
+The city of Rivas contains eleven thousand inhabitants, while the
+department of that name and the adjacent Oriental department number
+respectively twenty thousand and ninety-five thousand. Four days after
+leaving Realejo, the party, to the number of one hundred and sixty-five
+landed at a point on the coast near the town of Brito, and immediately
+began a forced march to Rivas. Midnight and a severe rain storm
+overtook them in the midst of a strange country, but they trudged
+patiently along, ankle-deep in mud, shielding their precious ammunition
+from the falling torrents. On the second night of their march the
+weather proved a useful ally, enabling them to surprise and overpower a
+picket of the enemy at the village of Tola. Next morning they were
+rewarded by a first sight of Lake Nicaragua in all its matchless
+beauty. Walker, who had beheld the glories of Switzerland, Italy, and
+California, pauses in the recital of his dangerous adventures to note
+the charms of the earthly paradise upon which he had come to launch the
+horrors of war. Between him and the lake six hundred Legitimist's
+troops lay at Rivas, awaiting the attack.
+
+No time was lost in forming the plan of assault. To the Falange was
+awarded the post of honour, the native command of Ramirez being
+reserved to support them. Kewen and Crocker led the Americans, who, at
+the word of command, advanced steadily, receiving the enemy's fire with
+the coolness of veterans, and reserving their own until it could tell
+most effectively. Then after pouring in a volley they charged with a
+yell, and drove the advance guard of the Serviles down the narrow
+streets to the plaza. A stubborn resistance was made at this point.
+Crocker was dangerously wounded in two places, his right arm was broken
+by a musket shot, but he carried his pistol in his left hand and
+continued to fire it into the faces of the enemy, until a third shot
+laid him dead. Walker, who had joined his countrymen in the charge, now
+called for the native reserves to decide the issue; but they were
+nowhere to be seen. The poltroons had fled at the first shot. The enemy
+perceived the defection and pressed the abandoned Falange so hard that
+they were driven for shelter to some adobe huts, behind whose walls
+they held their own for three hours. It was a losing game with so small
+a force, for every man slain was equal to thrice the number of enemies
+added. Achilles Kewen was the next officer to fall. The hardy pioneer,
+Doubleday, was shot in the head, though not fatally. Seeing six of his
+men dead, and twice as many wounded, Walker ordered a sortie. The enemy
+had lost a hundred and fifty in killed and wounded, and General Boscha,
+their commander, deemed it wiser to offer no opposition to the
+departure of the Americans. The Serviles, with cowardly ferocity,
+killed the wounded men who had been left on the plaza, and celebrated
+their victory by burning the bodies. The ghastly bonfire lit up the
+city as the weary filibusters halted on their retreat near the Transit
+road to San Juan del Sur. The following morning they resumed the march
+to that city, where they arrived about sunset, on June 30th, in a most
+deplorable plight. Some were hatless, some shoeless, and all exhausted
+with battle and travel, as they marched into the town. There is a whole
+epitome of filibustering in the fact that at such a time two recruits
+were found to join the ranks of the Falange. "The Texan, Harry McLeod,
+and the Irishman, Peter Burns," deserve mention for this characteristic
+piece of hardihood.
+
+The _Vesta_ was cruising off the coast, awaiting orders from Walker,
+who therefore impressed a Costa Rican schooner, the _San Jose,_ for
+the purpose of carrying his command to Realejo, defending his action
+upon the ground that the same vessel had already been used to carry
+General Guardiola from Honduras to Nicaragua upon a hostile mission,
+thus forfeiting her neutral rights. The schooner was confiscated a
+year afterwards, by Walker, for sailing under a false register, and,
+being converted into a man-of-war and renamed the _Granada,_ played
+quite an important part in the climax of this tragedy.
+
+In this critical hour of his fortunes, Walker's firmness was put to a
+severe test. A couple of dissolute Americans, who had been living for
+some time at San Juan, either through drunken folly or private spite,
+or for the purpose of plunder, set fire to the barracks on shore,
+for a time placing the whole town in danger of destruction. Walker,
+foreseeing that the act would be at once attributed to his men, took
+measures to punish the offenders. One of them escaped from the party
+detailed to execute him. The other, a gambler named Dewey, took refuge
+in the hold of a small boat attached to the stern of the _San Jose_.
+The desperado was well armed, and any attempt to capture him would
+have proved fatal to one or more of his assailants. So all the night
+Walker and a guard of men kept watch over the boat, ready to shoot
+or seize the villain if he tried to escape. At daybreak the schooner
+put to sea, towing astern the boat in which Dewey lay sheltered
+behind a poor native woman, his wretched mistress. The gambler, as
+everybody on board knew, was a dead shot, while his guard lay under
+the disadvantage of fearing to injure the woman if they fired. At last
+he rose to cut the boat's painter, and at that moment a rifle ball
+ended his career. The poor woman was wounded also, but not mortally.
+Walker takes pains to recount minutely the details of this incident,
+in order to vindicate the character of his followers. So severe a
+punishment was not lost upon those of his men who might be inclined to
+take a baser view of filibusterism than their leader did.
+
+On the same day they met the _Vesta_ at sea, and embarking on board
+the old brig, arrived at Realejo on July 1st. Walker was justly
+incensed at the defection of his native allies at Rivas, and
+positively refused to continue in the Democratic service without
+better guarantees of support on emergency than the jealousy of the
+native commanders seemed likely to allow. The Falange remained several
+days at Leon, where the firmness of their leader alone averted a
+collision between them and the troops of Munoz, who had set the
+example of hostility and distrust towards the new-comers. At last,
+finding the Cabinet unable to agree upon a fixed policy (though a
+modified contract had been drawn up, by the terms of which the Falange
+were to be enlisted in the army of Nicaragua to the number of three
+hundred, and receive one hundred dollars a month per man, and five
+hundred acres of land each at the close of the war), Walker withdrew
+his men from Leon to Realejo. There he embarked them on the _Vesta,_
+with the pretended purpose of departing for Honduras, and entering the
+service of President Cabañas. Nothing however, was farther from his
+intention. The Meridional department, commanding the Transit route,
+was the point at whose acquisition he steadily aimed. To maintain his
+foothold in Nicaragua he well knew he must keep open his communication
+with the United States and the recruits who were sure to flock thence
+to his standard.
+
+Castellon was perplexed, fearing equally to part with his valuable
+allies and to displease Munoz by retaining them. The fortune of war
+decided the question. The Legitimists under Corral and His Hondureño
+ally, Guardiola, were drawing close to Leon. Santos Guardiola (his name
+is still muttered with a curse throughout the length and breadth of the
+isthmus) was a native of Honduras, who joined the Guatemalan enemies of
+his country, and, by his unparalleled cruelties to young and old, men
+and women alike, acquired the dread name of "The Tiger of Honduras." He
+was sprung from the stock which produces nine-tenths of the murderers
+and thieves of Central America, the offspring of Indo-African
+amalgamation known as "Sambos."
+
+A deadlier foe, the cholera, was also beginning to ravage the
+Democratic department. To meet Corral and his forces, Munoz went forth
+with six hundred men, and a sharp engagement occurred at Sauce, in
+which the enemy was repulsed, but Munoz was slain. The loss of that
+commander influenced Castellon more than the temporary victory, and he
+continued to beg Walker to return. But Walker had already secured the
+co-operation of an influential partisan, Don Jose Maria Valle, who
+readily enlisted a hundred and sixty men for the enterprise against
+the Meridional department, and, with the easy loyalty of his nation,
+proposed that Walker should pronounce against Castellon and set up an
+independent government. Walker was honourable enough to reject the
+ungrateful suggestion, although he did not hesitate to disobey the
+Provisional Director's commands when they crossed his own policy.
+Accordingly, on the 23rd of August the _Vesta_ sailed once more for
+the Meridional department, and arrived at San Juan del Sur on the
+29th. The Legitimists fled at his approach. While the Americans were
+there the steamer from San Francisco arrived and departed, carrying
+back with her, as a recruiting agent, the afterwards notorious Parker
+H. French.
+
+After a stay of four days Walker set out for Rivas, where Guardiola and
+six hundred Serviles lay waiting to regain the laurels lost at Sauce.
+The Americans, after a few hours' march, halted for breakfast at Virgin
+Bay, on the lake, and were at once attacked by Guardiola's whole
+command who had made a forced march towards San Juan, and then,
+doubling, followed the Americans to Virgin Bay. Attacked on front and
+flank, Walker made a good disposition of his little force. Previous
+experience had taught him that no superiority of discipline, skill, and
+courage sufficed to counterbalance the numerical odds of eight to one
+on an open field. He was now to try the effect of pitting the same
+against a proportion of only five to one, with the ground in his
+favour. The Falange, as usual, bore the brunt of battle; but the
+natives, being better officered than before, fought well. Guardiola was
+driven back at every point, notwithstanding that his men showed
+desperate courage. But no courage could withstand the deadly
+marksmanship of the Americans, who, with rifle or revolver, always
+engaged at close quarters and never wasted a shot. The combat, which
+hardly deserves the name of a battle, lasted only two hours;
+sufficiently long to inflict on the enemy a loss of sixty killed and a
+hundred wounded. At its conclusion Guardiola withdrew his demoralized
+forces and fled to Rivas. Walker, Doubleday, and a few others were
+wounded, but none of the Americans, and but three of their native
+allies, were killed.
+
+Walker now returned to San Juan, where he picked up a few recruits from
+among the ranks of homeward-bound Americans on the steamer from
+California. Here also he learned of the death of Castellon, who had
+fallen a victim to the cholera. His successor, Don Nasario Escoto,
+warmly congratulated Walker on his success at Virgin Bay, and promised
+further aid. Learning from intercepted letters of the authorities at
+Granada that the city was in an almost defenceless condition, he
+determined to attack the Legitimist stronghold without awaiting the
+advance of Corral, who had replaced Guardiola in the command of the
+enemy. To show his contempt of the latter, he sent the intercepted
+correspondence to the Legitimist headquarters, and was not a little
+surprised at receiving a polite acknowledgement of the courtesy, and a
+hieroglyphic document from Corral, which proved to consist of Masonic
+signs. A freemason in the Falange, De Brissot, interpreted them to mean
+an overture for confidential negotiations. No reply was made to the
+proposition.
+
+Recruits continued to flock to the Democratic standard. Colonel Charles
+Gilman, a one-legged veteran of Sonora, came down with thirty-five men
+from California. The native allies now numbered about two hundred and
+fifty. Two small cannon were procured and mounted. By the 11th of
+October Walker had everything in readiness for his most audacious
+stroke, the capture of Granada, a city as dear to the Legitimist cause,
+and especially to its proud inhabitants, as was its namesake to the
+Moors of old Spain.
+
+Corral was massing his forces at Rivas, hoping, yet fearing, to meet
+his enemy on the Transit road. No suspicion of an attack on the capital
+seems to have entered his mind. Dissension was rife in the Legitimist
+camp, Guardiola and Corral quarrelling for the supreme command. The
+native Democrats on the other side, whatever of jealousy they may have
+felt towards their foreign allies, carefully veiled their feelings and
+made a show of the utmost cordiality. Walker enforced absolute
+discipline without distinction of nationality, a spice of grim humour
+sometimes seasoning his decisions. Two native officers, having
+quarrelled all night over some old or new feud, were ordered to settle
+the affair by going out and fighting a duel next morning, but their
+courage had oozed away by daybreak, and the trouble was heard of no
+more.
+
+At last, on the morning of October 11th, the Democratic army, about
+four hundred strong, took the line of march over the white Transit road
+to Virgin Bay. The Falange were in good spirits as they marched gaily
+along the dusty highway. They were nearly all in the prime of
+life--tall, robust, and spirited. Their only distinctive uniform, if it
+might be called such, was the red ribbon which they wore tied around
+their black "slouch" hats. They wore blue or red woollen shirts, coarse
+trousers tucked into heavy boots, with a revolver and a bowie knife in
+each belt, and a precious rifle on every man's shoulder. Many new faces
+were in the ranks, and some old ones were missing which could ill be
+spared from a service of trust and danger. Ten of the original
+fifty-six had fallen in battle--Kewen, a brave veteran of Mexico and
+Cuba, Crocker, McIndoe, Cotham, Bailey, Hews, Wilson, William and Frank
+Cole, and Estabrook. Some were absent on leave, amongst them the
+pioneer, Doubleday, who had returned home piqued by an untimely rebuke
+from his commander. The estrangement did not last long. Doubleday soon
+wearied of a peaceful life, and was welcomed back by Walker on his
+return to active service.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+A Servile victory in the North--Walker in the enemy's stronghold--
+Negotiations for peace--Execution of Mayorga--Rivas chosen
+Provisional Director--Corral's treason and punishment--Newspaper
+history.
+
+
+Corral lay with the main body of the Legitimist army at Rivas, keeping,
+through his scouts and spies, a close watch on the movements of his
+enemy. One of those spies, having been caught within the Democratic
+lines, was tried by court-martial and summarily shot. Corral fancied
+that he had his foes in a trap, and he accordingly devoted all his
+efforts to prevent their retreat to San Juan, as well as to cut off
+reinforcements from California. Matters, indeed, looked desperate with
+the Democrats. On the North the Leonese had just been routed in battle
+by General Martinez at Pueblo Nuevo, and the victor had only halted for
+a time at Granada to receive a triumphal ovation before coming down to
+Rivas to join in the extermination of the filibusters.
+
+It had been a gala day in the city of Granada. From early dawn to
+midnight her ten thousand citizens filled the streets and plazas with
+revelry and congratulations. Salvos of artillery thundered a welcome to
+the victors, joy bells rang all day, and _bombas_ and rockets wasted
+precious powder in their honour. _Aguardiente_ flowed freely as water,
+until the valiant soldiers prayed that Walker might be spared
+destruction long enough to meet the heroes of Pueblo Nuevo. Far into
+the night lasted the grand fiesta, till the last drunken reveller had
+hied him home or lain down in the street to dream of renewed happiness
+on the morrow. The tardiest lover had tinkled his farewell on the
+guitar. In the grand plaza the guard nodded around the watch fire,
+while from distant pickets came at intervals the long-drawn nasal
+"Alerte!" of the sentinels. It was a melodious cry, equally unlike the
+sharp challenge of the Frenchman or the stern English monosyllables.
+
+Granada slept, the while a little steamer, with lights cloaked and
+furnaces hidden, steamed slowly along the shore. Not a sound broke the
+stillness of the lake, save the lap of surf or the plash of the
+startled saurian. The jaguar prowling among the orange trees on the
+shore challenged the unfamiliar noise, and the night birds passed along
+the cry of warning which was lost upon the ears of the sleepy
+sentinels. They drowsed over their waning fires until the gray of
+morning broke on the mountains, and from convent and church tower the
+joy-bells renewed the merry peals. Here and there a straggling sentry
+discharged his piece in response. Another and another shot were heard;
+then, suddenly, a short, sharp volley such as never came from the mouth
+of smooth-bore musket. The joy-bells changed to a loud alarm as a
+terrified sentinel rushed in from the South suburb, crying, "The enemy
+are on us! the Filibusteros!" Close upon his heels came the broken and
+demoralized picket, with the advance guard of Americans under Walker
+and Valle galloping on their track.
+
+The surprised garrison, after the first panic, rallied and made a short
+stand on the plaza, until an impetuous charge of the invaders swept
+them away. In less time than has been taken to tell it one hundred and
+ten filibusters had carried by assault the city of Granada, without
+losing a man--literally, for a drummer-boy was the only victim on their
+side.
+
+The surprise was complete, and the consequence of supreme importance to
+Walker, who, from the chief city of the Servile party, might dictate
+terms to Central America. Corral had been completely outgeneralled,
+nobody but Walker himself and his trusted aids, Valle and Hornsby,
+having been acquainted with the object of the expedition when it set
+out from Virgin Bay.
+
+Walker, as soon as he had organized a provisional government and
+convinced his native allies by vigorous measures that the conquered
+city was not to be subjected to the usual treatment of plunder and
+violence, sent a delegation to negotiate with Corral. The envoys were
+met with a polite negative, while the United States minister, Mr.
+Wheeler, who had accompanied them in the character of a peacemaker, was
+thrown into prison and threatened with other punishments, whence ensued
+much diplomatic correspondence and official shedding of ink.
+
+Meanwhile the hope of a peaceable understanding was seriously
+jeopardized by the folly of Walker's recruiting agent, Parker H.
+French. He had come to San Juan with a body of new men from California,
+and after crossing the Transit had seized one of the lake steamers,
+with the intention of capturing Fort San Carlos, at the head of the San
+Juan River, the same stronghold which in its days of power had been the
+key to the Transit route and to lake navigation. French was easily
+repulsed, and made his way to Granada to report his misadventures.
+Tidings of his deeds reaching Rivas in the meantime, some Legitimist
+soldiers, by way of reprisal, attacked and killed six or seven
+Californian passengers who were awaiting at Virgin Bay a chance of
+passage to the Atlantic coast. Shortly afterwards the commandant of
+Fort San Carlos fired into a westward-bound steamer, killing some
+passengers who were as innocent of complicity with French or the
+filibusters as had been the other victims at Virgin Bay. The protest of
+the American minister being treated with contempt, Walker, with
+questionable justice, retaliated by ordering a court-martial on the
+Legitimist Secretary of State, Don Mateo Mayorga, who had been captured
+at the taking of Granada. Such a method of holding a cabinet minister
+responsible for the acts of his government was enforcing the principles
+of constitutional rule with a vengeance. The court was composed of the
+secretary's countrymen, who brought in a verdict of guilty, and Mayorga
+was promptly executed. Although personally refraining from interfering
+in the case, and only reluctantly sanctioning the sentence of death, it
+is evident that Walker had begun to learn the Central American method
+of conducting warfare. But the execution, if morally unjustified,
+proved to be a wise act politically. Corral at once agreed to treat for
+peace, and a meeting between him and Walker was arranged to take place
+at Granada on the 23rd of October.
+
+Again the bells of Granada rang out in joy, and the light-hearted
+populace welcomed the festival whether of peace or of war. The Falange,
+now some tenscore strong, joined with the native soldiery in a military
+welcome to their late enemies.
+
+At the approach of Corral, Walker, attended by his staff, rode out of
+the suburbs to meet him. The commanders saluted each other with grave
+cordiality, and re-entered the city side by side, proceeding to the
+grand cathedral, where Padre Vijil, the curate of Granada, offered up a
+High Mass, and _Te Deums_ of thanksgiving were sung. Nor did the good
+father fail in his sermon to show the advantages to his beloved
+country attending the presence of the strange American of the North.
+
+Handsome Corral was the darling of the Granadinos. He had the
+superficial traits which draw popularity--dash, openhandedness,
+physical beauty, and a sunny disposition; but he was weak, vain, and
+untrustworthy, for all that. We have seen how he coquetted with Walker
+while in command of the Legitimist forces, treating for peace and
+imprisoning its envoys. Having come to Granada to complete the
+negotiations, he now betrayed the rights of his principal, the
+President, so called, Estrada, and entered into a sacred compact with
+the Leonese, whose acts were sanctioned by their nominal President.
+
+By the terms of the agreement Don Patricio Rivas was appointed
+President _pro tempore_, with the following cabinet: Maximo Jerez,
+Minister of Relations; Firmin Ferrer, Minister of Public Credit; Parker
+H. French, Minister of Hacienda; Ponciano Corral, Minister of War.
+Walker was appointed generalissimo of the army, which consisted of
+twelve hundred men, distributed throughout the country in small
+garrisons. Five hundred men were stationed at Leon and the remainder at
+Virgin Bay, Granada, Rivas, and other fortified positions. The general
+in chief received a salary of five hundred dollars a month, and his
+subordinates were awarded correspondingly liberal pay, or promises to
+pay. There were seven surgeons and two chaplains attached to the
+forces; the former held no sinecure.
+
+During the progress of the negotiations Corral, with the small subtlety
+of miniature politics, had sought to entrap Walker in various ways,
+such as requiring him to take the oath upon the Crucifix, and similar
+ceremonial punctilioes, to which Walker, as a Protestant, might have
+been expected to object, but, like a man of sense, did not. He rightly
+judged that the keeping of an oath was of more importance than the form
+of taking it; and therein he differed from Corral, who was detected, a
+few days after the formation of the government, in treasonable
+correspondence with the neighbouring states. A native courier deceived
+the traitor, and placed in Walker's hands the fatal letters containing
+indisputable proofs of the writer's guilt.
+
+To Xatruch, a Legitimist refugee, he had written, nine days after the
+signing of the treaty, begging him to foment hostility against the new
+administration. In a similar strain he wrote to Guardiola, the Honduran
+Servile leader, conjuring him to arouse the Legitimist element
+everywhere against the American intruders: "Nicaragua is lost, lost are
+Honduras, San Salvador, and Guatemala if they let this thing prevail.
+Let them come quickly, if they would meet auxiliaries." General
+Martinez, commanding at Managua, was also implicated in the treason,
+but received warning in time to fly the country.
+
+Walker at once requested the President and Cabinet to meet him, and
+laid before them the evidence of Corral's guilt. A court-martial was
+convened, the members of which were all Americans, such, it is said,
+being the wish of the accused, who knew that he could expect no mercy
+from his countrymen. From the same motive, he did not deny his guilt,
+but threw himself on the mercy of his judges, relying, as it proved,
+over-much on the magnanimity which the Americans had heretofore
+displayed. He was sentenced to die by the fusillade at noon of the next
+day, November the 7th. The time of execution was subsequently postponed
+two hours. The friends of the condemned made earnest appeals for mercy
+in his behalf, being seconded by the leading public citizens, and
+particularly by Padre Vijil, the gentle apostle of peace; but Walker,
+though much moved and fully aware of the odious construction which his
+enemies would put upon the act, firmly refused the petition. The
+treason was too flagrant, the example unfortunately too necessary, and
+mercy to such a traitor would have been injustice to every loyal man in
+the state.
+
+Corral died at the appointed hour, and the lesson was not wholly lost
+upon his accomplices. Walker has been bitterly censured for this piece
+of stern justice, especially at home in the United States, where the
+act was misrepresented as that of a suspicious tyrant who thus rid
+himself of a dangerous rival. But there is not the slightest reason for
+regarding Corral's death as aught but the well-merited punishment of an
+utterly unscrupulous villain. His whole conduct in connection with the
+late war was consistent with his last and fatal treachery. Even the
+morality of Nicaragua, loose as it was in matters of public faith,
+while lamenting the fate of Handsome Ponciano, confessed that he was
+well-named "Corral," the beautiful but deadly serpent of the country.
+
+That impartial justice governed the action of Walker is evident from an
+incident which occurred on the very day on which Corral was inditing
+his treason to Xatruch and Guardiola. Patrick Jordan, a soldier of the
+Falange, while intoxicated, shot and mortally wounded a native boy.
+Jordan was tried by court-martial and sentenced to death. Padre Vijil
+and many others, including the mother of the murdered boy, begged in
+vain for leniency to the culprit. On the 3rd of November, two days
+after the commission of his crime, Jordan was shot at sunrise. Walker's
+detractors commented characteristically upon this execution, picturing
+the impartial judge as another Mokanna, delighting in the suffering of
+friend as of foe. The historian, groping in the darkness of
+contemporaneous journalism for facts of current history, wherever those
+facts bear upon the so-called political issues of the time, finds
+himself floundering at every step in sloughs of falsehoods or
+quicksands of misrepresentation. The evil, unhappily, is confined to no
+party or epoch. Walker being a champion, and a bigoted one, of a
+certain party, paid the inevitable penalty, that of being equally
+over-praised and underrated, according to the political prejudices of
+his critics.
+
+To Don Buenaventura Selva was given the vacant portfolio of war. The
+representative of the United States recognized the new administration.
+The neighbouring states of Liberal tendencies sent assurances of hearty
+friendship; those in which the Servile party was supreme maintained a
+diplomatic silence. Peace reigned throughout the length and breadth of
+Nicaragua, the peace of her own slumbering volcanoes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+Administration of President Walker--The Allies advance towards
+Granada--Naval victory--Review of the filibuster army--Filibusters
+and their allies--Assault on Masaya--Civil government--The Slavery
+decree--Antiquated logic.
+
+
+Walker wisely gave the most important places in the cabinet to his
+native adherents. His faithful friends, Don Firmin Ferrer and Mateo
+Pineda, were appointed respectively Ministers of Foreign Affairs and of
+War. Don Manuel Carascossa received the Treasury portfolio, and that of
+Hacienda was given to the Cuban, Don Domingo Goicouria. Hundreds of
+recruits continued to pour in from California and the Atlantic states.
+In the Northern departments the Allies also received strong
+reinforcements, and by the 1st of July they had undisturbed possession
+of Leon, whence they soon spread over the country, annoying the
+foraging parties sent out of Granada to collect cattle in the district
+of Chontales. A detachment of cavalry which Walker sent against them
+was repulsed near the river Tipitapa, and one of the leaders, Byron
+Cole, was slain. Cole was the early friend of Walker, and the
+negotiator of the contract under which the filibusters had come to
+Nicaragua. Belloso, reinforced by a strong body under command of
+General Martinez, was now emboldened to advance to Masaya, which he
+fortified and made the base of operation against Granada, fifteen miles
+distant.
+
+Xatruch, Jerez, and Zavala were acting with the enemies of their
+country. Rivas was of little importance among his dubious friends.
+Salazar, who had been so prominent in inciting the invasion, was
+captured on the coast of Nicaragua by Lieutenant Fayssoux, and carried
+a prisoner to Granada, where he was tried for treason, found guilty,
+and executed.
+
+Fayssoux, the only commander in the navy of the ephemeral republic,
+was a splendid specimen of the sailor-filibuster. A native of Louisiana,
+he had seen service in Cuba with Lopez and Pickett. Walker, having
+confiscated the schooner _San Jose_ for carrying a false register, had
+her fitted out with some guns and placed her under the command of
+Fayssoux. Her first exploit was an engagement with the Costa Rican
+brig, _Once de Abril_, carrying thrice the armament and six times the
+crew of the _Granada_, as the _San Jose_ was now christened. The Costa
+Rican was blown out of the water after a two-hours' fight, and the
+_Granada_ remained mistress of the Pacific waters until a heavier
+antagonist came upon the scene.
+
+The position of the Allies at Masaya was well chosen. It is an eagle's
+nest, hung high a thousand feet, on the crest of a volcanic upheaval.
+Half-way down its sides lies the Lake of Masaya, imprisoned within its
+walls of adamant. To the south lies the lava desert, well named "the
+Hell of Masaya," barring the road from Granada.
+
+Belloso from his eyrie was wont to swoop down on detached parties of
+foraging filibusters, or to strike with quick and deadly blow the
+solitary hamlets whose people might be suspected of a leaning towards
+the liberal cause. Walker did not need control of the northern
+districts, and would have been content to leave Masaya and its barren
+crags in undisturbed possession of Belloso's rough riders, but for the
+daily waspish annoyance to his foragers and the loss of prestige in the
+eyes of the conquered Leonese. Characteristically he chose the bold
+plan of attacking the enemy in his stronghold, regardless of the
+enormous odds against him. At the head of only eight hundred men he
+rode out of Granada, on the morning of October 11th, and took the high
+road for Masaya.
+
+There was a gallant review of the little army, proud in the bravery of
+new uniforms and waving banners, and under the eyes of wives, sisters,
+and sweethearts, of whom not a few had followed the flag down to the
+seat of war. For the filibusters had "come to stay," they boasted. What
+further ambition they dreamed may not be known; but something was
+hinted in the device upon the flag of the First Rifle battalion, the
+corps of one-legged Colonel Sanders, a grim and hard-fighting old
+colonel withal. It bore, in place of the old-time five volcanoes and
+pious legend, the filibuster's five-pointed red star, and the motto, in
+sword-cut Saxon, "Five or None"--a hint to the allied states of new and
+stronger alliance yet to be.
+
+The march was leisurely and uninterrupted. By ten o'clock at night they
+halted near the suburbs of Masaya, threw out pickets, and went into
+camp. It was a glorious tropical night. The early evening had been
+misty, but night fell without the laggard twilight of temperate zones,
+and the full moon shone in all her splendour upon a scene worthy the
+pencil of Salvator Rosa. Before the filibusters' bivouac lay the Lake
+of Masaya, reflecting the watch-fires of the town. In the distance rose
+the towering cone of Mount Masaya, clouded in dense volumes of smoke,
+and grandly indifferent to the puny preparations of the insects about
+to bring their mimic thunders into play on the morrow. The filibusters
+lay in groups around their fires, the very flower and perfection of
+that lost race called the "49-ers." They smoked their pipes tranquilly;
+they took an occasional sip of _aguardiente_--but it was a temperate
+potation, for the General was at hand, and woe betide the luckless
+wretch who unfitted himself for duty in that dread presence on the eve
+of battle. They talked of the past much, of the present little, and of
+the future not at all, save in connection with mining prospects. For it
+was a religious belief with those queer adventurers that in coming to
+Nicaragua they had been governed by a marvellous inspiration of good
+sense. It was to them a question of practical business, they believed;
+and if its pursuit involved a little incidental fighting, why, that was
+to be reckoned among the taxes to fortune. Hence they had not wasted
+their hours in Nicaragua, but had diligently, as their duties would
+allow, visited every rivulet and hill, and talked knowingly of
+"indications," and "colour," and other technical lore. Regarding
+themselves as industrious, if rather enterprising, men of business,
+they would have resented any intimation of romance or recklessness in
+their present occupation.
+
+They spoke in a short, terse way which it was the despair of their
+allies to understand. Ollendorf had furnished the Spanish student
+with no equivalent for the wondrous vocabulary of California. The
+Nicaraguan, who uses not over one-fifth of the words in his glorious
+Castilian inheritance, was at the verbal mercy of the man who possessed
+a whole mine of phrases unknown to the lexicographers, and who pitied
+with a fine scorn the ignorant wretch, native or foreign, who knew not
+the _patois_ of the mining camp. He even improved upon the language of
+the country, when he condescended to use it, changing such household
+words as "nigua" or "jigua," into the more expressive "jigger," nor
+omitting to prefix it with the Anglo-Saxon shibboleth known to all
+mankind--the watchword which, hundreds of years ago, gave to English
+soldiers in foreign towns the charming sobriquet of the "Goddams." The
+prefix was not inapt, for the "jigger" is the most pestiferous parasite
+of all his race, and a living thorn in the flesh of his victim. Spanish
+verbs, like "buscar," "pasear," &c., masqueraded with English terminals
+and marvellous compound tenses, a wonder of philology. Nor did the
+sonorous native names come forth unrefined from the furnace of
+California speech. "Don Jose de Machuca y Mendoza" was a style
+nomenclature altogether too lofty for democratic tongues, which found
+it easier and much more sociable to pronounce "Greaser Joe." Whatever
+was to come of the incongruous alliance, for the present there was a
+touch of nature, a community of courage, which made the parties kin in
+thought and action. The native, whether friend or foe, was no coward.
+In endurance he was the peer of his northern rival, though he lacked
+the physical strength and wild hardihood of the pioneer. The bivouac
+before Masaya was but one of a score of such.
+
+The enemy, who had kept up a desultory firing through the night,
+appeared in force at daybreak a few hundred yards away. Walker began
+the engagement by a general advance on the town under cover of a
+well-directed fire from his battery of howitzers. In a short time the
+First Rifles had driven the enemy out of the main plaza, which was
+immediately occupied by the whole force of the assailants. The position
+was excellent as far as it went, but the enemy still held two other
+plazas and the intervening houses, and to dislodge them would have
+entailed a heavier loss of life than could be afforded. The artillery
+was accordingly brought up, and sappers were detailed to cut passages
+through the adobe house walls. Slowly but steadily the work proceeded,
+the besieging lines converging towards the enemy's stronghold. The day
+was thus consumed in engineering, with an occasional skirmish in the
+narrow streets.
+
+While the combatants lay on their arms that night awaiting the morrow
+which was to see the city in the possession of the invaders, what was
+happening in Granada? Zavala and eight hundred swarthy Serviles, making
+a forced march from Diriomio, had entered the Jalteva at noon of the
+12th. A scant garrison of a hundred and fifty men, mostly invalids, was
+all that remained to oppose them; and Zavala, feeling sure of an easy
+victory, divided his forces so as to surround the little band. The
+latter were distributed in the church, armoury, and hospital, whither
+also repaired all the civilians who could, having little confidence in
+the security of their neutral position. General Fry, commanding the
+garrison, hastily prepared for a desperate resistance. He had two or
+three field pieces, which were placed to best advantage and managed by
+Captain Swingle, an ingenious experimenter, with an enterprising eye to
+church bells and such raw material.
+
+Zavala found himself, to his great astonishment, repulsed at every
+point after several hours' hard fighting. In his rage, he wreaked
+vengeance on the neutral residents who had trusted to the peacefulness
+of their character or the protection of their government rather than to
+the rifles of the filibuster garrison. The American minister's house
+was assaulted, though unsuccessfully. Three of his countrymen, a
+merchant and a couple of missionaries, were murdered in cold blood.
+Padre Rossiter, the army chaplain, knew his countrymen, and boldly took
+up a musket in defence of his life, as did also Judge Basye of the
+Supreme Court. Honest Padre Vijil took a middle course by discreetly
+flying to the swamp until the storm was over. Nor did the civilizing
+mission of the worthy editor of _El Nicaraguense_ prevent him from
+seeking liberty under the sword. He went back to his desk, the wiser
+for a broken thigh.
+
+So for twenty-one long hours the siege lasted, while recruits flocked
+to the side of the assailants, and the little garrison struggled
+bravely against the fearful odds. To the threats and the promises,
+alike of the enemy they returned but defiances and the cry, "Americans
+never surrender!" Renegade Harper, acting as interpreter, assured them
+that Walker had been annihilated at Masaya, and that Belloso, with four
+thousand men, was on the road to Granada. No quarter was the penalty if
+they delayed longer to surrender. But they did delay. The hospital
+patients limped to the windows and rested their rifles there. The women
+and children stood by to supply them with cartridges. At night a
+courier was despatched in hot haste to Masaya. Eluding the enemy's
+pickets, he made his way along the road, only to meet the advance guard
+of Walker's returning forces. The news of Zavala's movement had already
+reached Masaya, putting the loyalty of an ambitious soldier to as
+severe a test as well might be. To abandon his assured victory for the
+safety of a hundred or two non-combatants was something of a sacrifice,
+but Walker did not hesitate a moment. The sacred ties of comradeship
+were strong in the hearts of those wild men, who, almost without
+awaiting the word of command, took up the march for Granada.
+
+In a few hours they arrived in the Jalteva, where they were confronted
+and for a time repulsed by a strong battery placed to bar the way, and
+well handled by the enemy. The advance guard fell back, as well they
+might, for the position was skilfully chosen for the defence of a
+narrow roadway. In the moment of confusion Walker rode up, and pointing
+to the Lone Star flag which still floated over the church, called for
+volunteers to succour their beleaguered comrades. The response was a
+cheer and a fierce charge, led by the commander in person, before which
+the enemy was scattered like chaff. Following up this advantage, the
+Americans moved upon the plaza before the church, where stood Zavala
+and his forces, now themselves on the defensive. But the intrepid
+resistance of the garrison, followed by the capture of the battery, had
+utterly demoralized the Serviles, who scarcely struck a blow in their
+own defence. In mad panic they fled through the city, only to be met in
+the suburbs by a detachment placed to intercept them.
+
+Barely half of Zavala's army escaped capture or death. Masaya had not
+been taken, but Walker had achieved a greater victory and inflicted a
+heavy loss upon the allies. Four hundred of them had fallen in the
+battle of Masaya, and an equally large number was supposed to have
+perished before Granada. Walker's loss was less than a hundred killed
+and wounded in both engagements. Lieutenant-colonel Lainé, a young
+Cuban aid of the general, was made prisoner at Masaya and shot by his
+captors, who refused an exchange. Walker was so incensed at this, that,
+in reprisal, he had two of his prisoners, a colonel and a captain, shot
+next day, and sent word to Belloso that a heavier reckoning would
+follow any future acts of atrocity.
+
+With those engagements active hostilities ended for a time. The enemy
+grew more wary in his movements.
+
+Civil government had not been neglected during the prosecution of
+military enterprises. An elaborate revision of the constitution and
+laws of the country was perfected; changes of a most serious nature
+being introduced. Walker reviews with complacency the laws of his
+government, especially those affecting the rights of property and the
+more vital right of liberty. Whether we look with approval or blame
+upon his course up to this point, it is impossible to excuse acts which
+in his eyes were not only just but even praiseworthy. A law was passed
+making "all documents connected with public affairs equally valuable,
+whether written in Spanish or in English." The American residents who
+knew both languages could here find an opportunity of outwitting the
+natives with the purpose, which Walker commends, of having the
+"ownership of the lands of the state fall into the hands of those
+speaking English." To further the same end, the military scrip of the
+republic was made receivable for Government lands sold under forfeit.
+Still further to aid the same purpose, he passed a law requiring a
+registry of all deeds; a thing heretofore unknown in the country, as
+"it gave an advantage to those familiar with the habit of registry."
+The Spaniards of California have had reason to regret that familiarity
+in their American neighbours. There is no pretence in all these acts of
+any higher or worthier purpose than that avowed by their author, viz.,
+the practical confiscation of the lands of the Government for the
+benefit of his adherents. Finally, on the 22nd of September, "the
+President of the Republic of Nicaragua, in virtue of the power in him
+vested," decreed that "Inasmuch as the act of the Constituent Assembly,
+decreed on the 30th of April, 1838, provides that the Federal decrees
+given previous to that date shall remain in force, unless contrary to
+the provisions of that Act; and inasmuch as many of the decrees
+heretofore given are unsuited to the present condition of the country,
+and are repugnant to its welfare and prosperity as well as to its
+territorial integrity; therefore:--
+
+"Article I. All acts and decrees of the Federal Constituent Assembly,
+as well as of the Federal Congress are declared null and void.
+
+"Article II. Nothing herein contained shall affect rights heretofore
+vested under the acts and decrees hereby repealed."
+
+The principal decree which this was intended to repeal was an Act of
+the Federal Constituent Assembly of the 17th of April, 1824, abolishing
+slavery and indemnifying the slave-owners in the then confederated
+states of Central America.
+
+Thus the institution of slavery, without any restriction, was reimposed
+on Nicaragua. Walker, so far from denying that this was the object of
+the decree, expressly avows it, saying, "By this Act must the Walker
+administration be judged. If the slavery decree, as it has been called,
+was unwise, Cabañas and Jerez were right when they sought to use the
+Americans for the mere purpose of raising one native faction and
+depressing another. Without such labour as the new decree gave, the
+Americans could have played no other part in Central America than that
+of the Pretorian guard at Rome or of the Janizaries in the East, and
+for such degrading service as this they were ill suited by the habits
+and traditions of their race." He admits that annexation to the United
+States was no part of the programme of the American adventurers in
+Nicaragua, knowing that it could not be constitutionally effected after
+the passage of a slavery law.
+
+To-day it seems strange to read such arguments as Walker used to defend
+the institution of slavery. But by the lurid light of his sentences we
+can see something of the bitter conflict which then raged between the
+friends and the enemies of slavery. His contempt for the Abolitionist
+party speaks in every line, whilst his defence of the now obsolete
+system of unspeakable wrong seems as puerile as the solemnly sincere
+essays of a Mather on the evils of witchcraft. He admires the "wisdom
+and excellence of the Divine economy in the creation of the black
+race," and the providence of letting Africa lie idle until the
+discovery of America gave a chance of utilizing the raw material of
+slavery. No self-appointed theological dragoman to the court of Heaven
+ever showed more readiness in interpreting the sentiments of Providence
+than he does when he piously asks, "And is it not thus that one race
+secures for itself liberty with order, while it bestows on the other
+comfort and Christianity?"
+
+Did the author of such views look at his subject through a moral
+single-convex lens which presented every object inverted? Was he
+colour-blind to right and wrong, or did he wilfully and deliberately
+present the side which he knew to be ignoble and the opposite of true?
+He was perfectly sincere. Walker was no worse, and no better, than
+nine-tenths of his fellow citizens in the Southern States, who honestly
+believed in the divine right of slave-holding, and testified to their
+conviction by the willing sacrifice of their blood and treasure. A
+wrong defeated, dead and buried, is a wrong which becomes visible to
+the blindest eyes. Whether we, who pass prompt sentence on it, might
+perceive its enormity so plainly, had the "leaded dice of war" turned
+up differently, is a speculation as idle as any other on the
+might-have-beens of history.
+
+The severe punishment inflicted on the allies at Masaya and Granada had
+the effect of keeping them for a time in check. A few days after those
+engagements, Walker received a most valuable ally in the person of
+General Charles Frederic Henningsen, an able officer, who had seen
+service and achieved distinction in many lands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Henningsen--Early service with Zumalacarregui--Campaigning with the
+Prophet of the Caucasus--Joins Kossuth--Arrival in America--Omotepe--A
+gallant defence--Watters carries the barricades.
+
+
+Henningsen was born in Belgium, son of a Scandinavian officer in the
+British service and his wife, an Irish lady. At the age of nineteen he
+left his home to take service under Don Carlos, in 1834. He was
+assigned to duty on the staff of the sturdy old partisan,
+Zumalacarregui, from whose rough school of war he graduated with the
+rank of colonel and an honour of nobility, the only rewards left in the
+power of the Bourbon to bestow.
+
+In one engagement he captured single-handed three cavalrymen and their
+horses, and was the first man to enter Villa Real, after chasing the
+enemy three leagues. For this he was offered the choice of a commission
+as first lieutenant in the general's body guard or the cross of St.
+Ferdinand. He chose the cross.
+
+The Order of Isabella the Catholic was subsequently conferred on him,
+with promotion, for his gallantry before Madrid, but a wound received
+in the foot, which caused him much suffering and refused to heal,
+compelled him to ask for sick leave. As he was with difficulty wending
+his way homeward he was pursued by the enemy and abandoned by his
+guide. After hiding for three days he was captured and imprisoned with
+three other foreigners. Feigning an illness which afterwards became
+real, he was removed to a hospital. The English doctor in attendance
+knew only of the prisoner's feint and admired the natural way in which
+the shivering fits were counterfeited. In vain the patient, who was
+really ill, protested that he was so, until after a time the truth of
+his assertion became apparent, for typhus fever had declared itself and
+the doctor was, too late, convinced of it. For twenty-one days
+Henningsen's life was despaired of, during which time his friends
+interceded for him. His release was demanded by the British Government,
+but General Espartero sternly refused it, saying his life was
+forfeited, for he had both with his sword and pen proved himself a
+dangerous foe. At the reiterated request of Lord Palmerston, backed by
+the Duke of Wellington and others, Espartero, however, was compelled to
+yield, as the withdrawal of the foreign legion was threatened if he
+persisted in his refusal.
+
+Henningsen, on his return to England, published a couple of volumes of
+personal recollections, which still hold a place in literature. His
+story was told in a simple and direct style, which showed marked
+literary ability. But the world was then too full of doing, for an
+active mind to content itself with thinking or saying. Schamyl the
+Prophet had unfurled his sacred banner, lit the fires of revolution on
+the Caucasus, and thrown the gage of battle to the mighty Czar himself.
+His cause was just enough, his case was desperate enough, to enlist the
+sympathies of the young knight-errant, who soon found himself battling
+beside wild mountaineers in Caucasian snows, and completing the
+education begun on the vine-clad hills of Spain. That campaign over, he
+improved his leisure in writing two or three books on Russian life,
+which increased his literary reputation without inducing him to take up
+a life of letters. The restraints of civilisation were too irksome, and
+he fled to the wilds of Asia Minor, where the news of Hungary's revolt
+against Austrian and Russian despotism found him. He arrived on the
+scene of action too late to take part in anything but the sorrowful
+ending. Gorgey's treason, if such indeed it were, had turned the scale
+against the patriots. Henningsen submitted a plan of operations to
+Kossuth, who decided that it was now too late for offensive action. All
+that remained was to offer his sword to the forlorn hope. The offer was
+gladly accepted. He joined Bem in the last ditch at Komorn, aiding not
+a little in the stout defence of that place.
+
+When the pitiful collapse came, Henningsen was one of the chieftains
+who were outlawed and had a price set upon their heads. He narrowly
+escaped capture and its inevitable consequence, death. Once he was
+saved by the tact of a lady, a relative of Kossuth, who, when the
+police were searching for a likeness of the fugitive, allowed them to
+find a portrait of some stranger, upon which she had hastily written
+the words, "From your friend, C. F. Henningsen." Being questioned, she
+averred that the likeness was not Henningsen's, but with so much
+apparent confusion as to make them disbelieve her. Copies of it were
+accordingly printed and distributed with the hue and cry, to the
+manifest benefit of the fugitive. Again, upon the very border of
+Turkey, he was chased so closely by a party of Haynau's bloodhound
+troops that capture seemed inevitable, and he had prepared a dose of
+poison, which he always carried with him, to be swallowed at the moment
+of arrest. His Caucasian experience had taught him that mercy was not
+to be expected of Cossack victors. More fortunate than many of his
+comrades, he managed to elude his foes and escape across the boundary,
+to join Kossuth. With him he crossed the Atlantic, never to return. In
+the United States he shared the social and political distinction of his
+leader.
+
+Henningsen at this period was thirty years old, tall and strikingly
+handsome, with the polish and breeding of a man of the world and a
+scholar. In Washington he met and loved a Southern belle, at the time
+when Southern society ruled in the national capital. The lady, who was
+a widow, was a niece of Senator Berrien of Georgia. She returned his
+affection, and they were married after a brief courtship.
+
+It was a critical period in American politics. It was the reign of King
+Pierce the Irresolute, to be followed shortly by that of King Buchanan
+the Unready. Henningsen by his matrimonial alliance was thrown into the
+society of those who favoured slavery, wherein he imbibed opinions in
+harmony with the upholders of that institution. The adherents of
+slavery felt that in the political field they were fighting a losing
+battle. The more farsighted saw that the success of their cause could
+be promoted only by "extending the area of freedom," as they phrased
+it. Thus the filibusters acquired new importance in the eyes of friend
+and of foe at home.
+
+Henningsen's wife, with the spirit of a Roman matron, acquiesced
+heroically when her knight volunteered to go forth and do battle for a
+cause which would have won his sympathy for its very danger alone. His
+reputation as a soldier was well established. He had introduced the
+Miniê rifle into the United States service, and was an authority upon
+his speciality, the use of artillery. Nor did he come empty-handed to
+Nicaragua; but brought with him military stores, arms, and ammunition,
+to the value of thirty thousand dollars, the contribution of himself
+and his wife, besides an equally liberal offering from George Law and
+other sympathizers with the cause. Walker immediately placed him on
+active service, with the rank of brigadier-general.
+
+Henningsen had scarcely assumed his command before he was sent to clear
+the Transit road of marauding bands of Costa Ricans, a large body of
+whom had landed at San Juan del Sur, under General Cañas. Henningsen
+scattered them promptly, and admitted a force of recruits from
+California, who had arrived on the steamer _Cortes_. The reappearance
+of the Costa Ricans on the Transit was too dangerous a menace to the
+communication with the United States, however; and Walker saw that to
+preserve his base of supplies, and at the same time to garrison the
+large city of Granada, was a task too serious for his slender forces.
+But as he did not wish to let the latter important stronghold fall into
+hostile hands, with the moral and material benefits accruing from the
+possession of the seat of government, he resolved to destroy the city.
+Previous to evacuating Granada he made another attack on Masaya, in
+order that the enemy might remain on the defensive and not suspect his
+intended movement of retreat southward. A trifling engagement took
+place, in which the artillery was well handled. On the 19th of November
+the sick and wounded were transported in the lake steamer to the island
+of Omotepe, where they were placed in charge of Colonel Fry and a corps
+of medical attendants.
+
+This island is one of the healthiest places in the country, being a
+volcanic upheaval, with a mountain towering from its centre to a height
+of five thousand feet. A few families of native Indian fishermen, rude
+and savage, are its only inhabitants, and their frail huts dot the
+margin of the lake. In the interior a dense jungle bars the road to the
+mountain top. The rank growth of the tropics hides the ruined monuments
+of a civilization which preceded Conquistador and Aztec. The traveller
+who cuts his way through the rank vegetation finds himself, here and
+there, in the presence of quaintly sculptured, hideous idols
+overturned. In remoter nooks, whither his Indian guide cares not to
+lead him, he would see the gods whom the Christians threw down,
+reinstated on their pedestals; and the good folk of Granada say in
+whispers, that thither, at stated times, flock silent, dusky
+worshippers, to offer up unholy rites and pray for the return of the
+gods of their fathers, who fed on human victims, and spoke to their
+people in the awful accents of the volcano. Little knew or recked the
+bold filibusters, quarantined beneath the frowning peak of Omotepe, of
+the alleged idolatrous practices or the evil repute in which the
+islanders were held by their mainland neighbors. They nursed their
+wounds with scant patience, recovered, and sought a chance to get new
+ones, or died and were forgotten, as though their passports to the
+realm of Death had been viséd by the most legitimate of all lawful
+war-makers.
+
+Walker, having entrusted to Henningsen the duty of destroying Granada,
+set out for Rivas. Upon his departure, many of the men and some of the
+officers, feeling that the severe restraints of discipline were
+withdrawn, plunged into a wild debauch. Henningsen, with the aid of
+such as were in decent condition, began the work of firing the town. As
+the smoke of the burning houses arose in the air the enemy's pickets
+saw and reported it to General Belloso, who rightly surmised the cause
+and ordered an immediate attack. The miserable debauchees awoke from
+their stupor to find that they had aroused a formidable foe. Five
+thousand furious Serviles were pouring into the city, and had already
+secured a strong strategic point in the church of the Guadaloupe,
+whence their sharpshooters were keeping in play the useful men whom
+Henningsen could gather about him.
+
+Under a fierce fire Henningsen continued the work of destruction until
+almost the entire town was reduced to ashes. His position, encumbered
+as he was with sick and wounded, was so perilous that he determined to
+capture the Guadaloupe church at any cost, as that important position
+commanded the passage to the lake. That end was not attained without
+the loss of many valuable lives and two days of hard fighting. Finally,
+on the 27th of November, the church was carried by assault, and all the
+American force, with their supplies, ammunition, and non-combatants,
+were safely transferred to the new quarters. A guard of thirty men,
+detailed to protect the wharf on the lake, three miles away, had been
+betrayed and captured two days before. Henningsen, in order to secure
+communication with the lake, began throwing up a line of earthworks
+along the whole distance, the enemy contesting every inch of the road.
+To keep the latter in check, Captain Swingle and his howitzers were
+employed night and day. When ammunition ran short the ingenious gunner
+made balls from scraps of iron piled in a mould of clay and soldered
+together with lead.
+
+As soon as they had effected communication with some adobe huts half
+way to the lake, Henningsen removed the sick and wounded to the more
+healthful land near the water. It was none too soon, for over a hundred
+men had perished from the ravages of cholera and typhus in the crowded
+quarters of the Guadaloupe. Lieutenant Sumpter with seventy men was
+left to garrison the church. Meanwhile the enemy had not been idle;
+they had thrown up earthworks between the lake and Henningsen's
+defences, and gathered a strong force to prevent the advance of relief
+from that direction.
+
+For three weeks the unequal fight lasted, until of the four hundred men
+who had remained to burn Granada, less than one hundred and fifty
+answered to the roll-call on the 13th of December. To Zavala's demand
+for their surrender Henningsen sent back word that he would parley only
+at the cannon's mouth. Their position, nevertheless, was so critical
+that many of the men talked openly of forsaking their helpless comrades
+and cutting their way to the lake. Finding that the first sign of such
+a proceeding would be greeted with a volley of grape, for Henningsen
+had learned from his chief the way to deal with insubordination, a few
+of the malcontents deserted to the enemy. The rest imitated the heroic
+fortitude of their officers, and all shared together their sorry
+rations of mule and horse meat as long as they lasted. That was not
+long; they had reached the limit of their supplies on the 12th of
+December, and Henningsen sent a message to Walker begging immediate
+relief. A native boy of the Sandwich Islands, who had come to Nicaragua
+on the _Vesta_, and who was known in the army as "Kanaka John,"
+volunteered to carry the note. It was given to him sealed and enclosed
+in a bottle. The boy made his way unperceived through the enemy's
+lines, and reached the water in time to see the lake steamer, _La
+Virgen_, lying beyond the line of surf, with lights shrouded and not a
+sign of life on board. The amphibious Kanaka swam out and boarded the
+steamer, where he found Walker and three or four hundred new recruits
+from the States.
+
+Colonel John Watters, with a hundred and sixty men, was at once ordered
+to relieve the beleaguered force under Henningsen. Watters on landing
+was met by a stout resistance from a large body of Allies guarding the
+wharf and adjacent earthworks; but the Californians rushed upon the
+barricade with a yell and carried it by storm. Henningsen heard the
+distant firing, and, recognizing the sharp note of the American rifle,
+made a sortie against the nearest post of the enemy. The firing lasted
+all night, for Belloso was frantic at the thought that the prey for
+which he had hungered so long was about slipping from his paws.
+Watters, finding the enemy so strong, made a detour so as to enter
+Granada by the north-eastern road, and sent a courier to notify
+Henningsen of his approach. It was daybreak ere the relief reached the
+city, having carried four strong lines of barricades on the march, and
+routed thrice their number of Allies. The enemy, as soon as the
+junction was effected, abandoned further opposition to the retreat of
+the filibusters and withdrew from the lake road. The evacuation of the
+Guadaloupe was completed in peace on the morning of December 14, 1856.
+
+When the Allies entered the place they found only a wilderness of
+smouldering ruins to mark the site of the city beloved by the Serviles
+and hated by the Leonese. The latter rejoiced secretly, the former
+mourned aloud, over the loss of the proudest city of the isthmus. In
+the Plaza they found a scornful souvenir of the destroyer, a lance
+stuck in the earth and bearing a raw hide, upon which was inscribed the
+legend, "Aqui fué Granada"--"Here was Granada!"
+
+Three hundred men, including Watters' command, embarked on the lake
+steamer and sailed to Virgin Bay. Three-fourths of the garrison of
+Granada had died in the three weeks' siege. The Allies had suffered
+more severely. Of the six thousand who joined their standard at Masaya
+only two thousand now remained; but they received new strength in the
+arrival of General Cañas with the Costa Ricans who, on the appearance
+of Walker and Henningsen at Virgin Bay, had evacuated Rivas and marched
+northward. Belloso and Zavala were constrained to turn the command of
+the Allied forces over to Cañas, as the success of the Costa Ricans in
+another quarter had given them a moral superiority over their less
+fortunate friends. The importance of that success can be estimated only
+by narrating its effect on the fortunes of Walker.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Vanderbilt joins issue--Titus outwitted--Siege of Rivas--Death in the
+Falange--Desertion--Captain Fayssoux and Sir Robert McClure--Battle of
+San Jorge--Allies assault Rivas--Famine and devotion--Commander Davis
+as a peacemaker.
+
+
+President Pierce had recognized the government of Rivas and Walker, as
+a cheap concession to the friends of the filibusters in the United
+States, for President Pierce was looking to a re-nomination in the
+forthcoming convention. No party so weak but the average Presidential
+candidate will scatter his bait before it. The nomination was not given
+him, but it was too late to recall the friendly act. The recognition of
+Walker's administration was, as we have seen, an accidental courtesy
+which Mr. Marcy would not hesitate to retract if occasion offered. The
+friends of Walker saw that to establish his power firmly he must be
+aided liberally and without delay. The bonds of the republic were
+accordingly offered for sale, and freely disposed of in many places.
+Thousands of dollars were collected in the Southern cities and expended
+in the purchase of munitions of war, and for the transportation of
+recruits. Every steamer carried out large numbers of enlisted men and
+consignments of war material. For the former, California could always
+be relied on, but the latter had to be procured in "the States."
+Vanderbilt saw a chance to revenge himself by cutting off the base of
+supplies, and cast about him for an able tool.
+
+He found willing instruments in the persons of Webster and Spencer, two
+adventurers of daring character and questionable antecedents. Webster
+drew up a plan of operations which met the approval of Vanderbilt, and
+Spencer was entrusted with its execution. This Spencer was a man of
+good family. His father had been Secretary of War. His brother was
+hanged for mutiny at the yard-arm of the brig-of-war _Somers_ in 1842,
+the only American officer who ever achieved that infamy. Spencer went
+to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, whence he set out, with one
+hundred and twenty picked men, for the head waters of the River San
+Carlos, which flows into the San Juan. Arrived there, they constructed
+rafts and floated down to the mouth of the Serapiqui. There they
+surprised a force of Americans, and continuing the descent to San Juan
+del Norte, soon made themselves masters of the Transit Company's
+steamers. With them and a reinforcement of eight hundred Costa Ricans,
+commanded by a brother of President Mora, they speedily captured all
+the fortified positions on the river and both of the lake steamers.
+Lake and river being thus secured, it only remained for Mora to cross
+the district of Chontales and effect a junction with the Allies at
+Granada.
+
+The enemy had effectually cut off Walker's communication with the
+Atlantic States. California remained open to him just so long as the
+agents of the line in San Francisco, whose friendship for him was, of
+course, secondary to their self-interest, should consider it profitable
+to continue running their steamers.
+
+Vanderbilt had triumphed. We may anticipate events so far as to say
+that President Mora's indebtedness to the Wall Street magnate taught
+him respect for the absolute power of money. But ere many years his
+confidence in another rich friend was repaid by treachery, which drove
+him from power into exile, disgrace, and death. Eighteen days after the
+execution of Walker at Trujillo, Juan Rafael Mora and General Cañas
+perished by the fusilade, after an abortive attempt to regain their
+lost power. It is recorded of the wealthy ingrate who had betrayed Mora
+that he died not long after his victim, and of a strange
+disease--ossification of the heart.
+
+Many attempts to recover control of the lost river route were made
+during the months of January, February, March, and April, 1857. Various
+expeditions from New Orleans and New York landed at San Juan del Norte,
+where eight British men-of-war were concentrated to watch the
+operations. The interference of the latter, though annoying, was not
+openly hostile, yet it was marked enough to affect seriously the
+fortunes of the expeditions. The English commander incited desertion by
+spreading among the men rumours of the terrible dangers they must risk
+in attempting the passage of the river. Many Europeans were thereby
+induced to claim British protection, which was gladly granted, though
+the loss of such deserters may have been a questionable calamity. A
+strong force, under the command of a certain Colonel Titus, a windy
+"Border ruffian" from Kansas, succeeded in ascending the river as far
+as Castillo Viejo, and were on the point of capturing that key to the
+situation, when their leader weakly allowed himself to be hoodwinked
+and befooled by its commandant. The latter, finding himself sore
+pressed, begged for a twenty-four hours' truce before surrendering;
+which being granted, he sent for reinforcements, and by the time the
+truce had expired was prepared to laugh at the simplicity of his
+antagonists.
+
+The mistake was irreparable. Through the incompetence of Titus and
+Lockridge, the key to Nicaragua was lost, perhaps for ever. With the
+Transit route in his power, Walker could have brought a host of
+recruits into the country and bidden defiance to all Spanish America.
+Without it, the labour of years was wasted and the conqueror thrown on
+the defensive. Knowing naught of the disasters which had befallen his
+arms on the river, Walker waited and watched through the long weeks for
+the relief which was never to come.
+
+Towards the end of January the Allies had advanced to Obraje, nine
+miles from Rivas, and soon occupied San Jorge, within a league of the
+American outworks. Rivas, embowered in her orange groves and cocoa
+palms, was slowly being encircled by the lines of the Allies, now
+numbering some seven thousand. They held those points, in spite of
+repeated attempts to dislodge them. Walker, not desiring to waste his
+men's lives in useless attacks, contented himself with occasional
+forays, while Henningsen prudently strengthened the fortifications and
+was careful of his scanty ammunition. Aided by the resourceful Captain
+Swingle, he cast round-shot from all sorts of old iron, and gathered
+together the bronze and silver bells of the city to melt into cannon
+balls.
+
+The Transit road between San Juan del Sur and Virgin Bay still was
+theirs, and nearly every steamer from San Francisco brought down a
+little band of recruits whose arrival was hailed with joy. But the
+advantages resulting from such additions to the garrisons were more
+than offset by the losses from desertion and death. The latter had made
+sad havoc in the ranks of the tried veterans. In February, Major Cal.
+O'Neill died in a skirmish with the Allies. He was a favourite soldier
+of the commander, having distinguished himself in almost every
+engagement during the campaign. His brother was slain in the evacuation
+of Granada, and the survivor had grown reckless of life thereafter. He
+was only twenty-one years old at the time of his death, but the
+Irishman's instinctive military bias and courage made up for the
+inexperience of youth. Other brave officers fell during the next few
+months, Conway, Higby, Dusenberry, and a score of veterans who were
+the flower of the army. The surviving members of the Falange found
+themselves surrounded by strange faces. The brave men died, and the
+cravens deserted. Unfortunately the evil did not end with the loss of
+worthless cowards; their example had a baneful effect upon good but
+reckless men, who otherwise would have remained faithful. It was not in
+weak human nature to content itself with scant rations of mule meat and
+plantains, while snug treason flaunted itself across the picket lines,
+boasting of rich fare and no duty. The hungry sentry was tempted by
+the sight of his late comrades and taunted by the sound of a brass
+band, which had deserted _en masse_ one night, and now drew from the
+instruments bought with the money of the republic, seductive dancing
+tunes and Servile melodies, instead of the loyal strains of the "Blue,
+White, and Blue," which they had been hired to play. On his confused
+mind, perchance, dawned the suspicion that the Nicaragua which he had
+come thousands of miles to see and enjoy was to be found rather in
+the fleshpots of the Allied army than in the hungry camp of the
+filibusters. Small wonder if the poor fellow forgot his duty and
+elected to follow the example before him.
+
+Early in February the monotony of the siege was broken by the arrival
+at San Juan del Sur of the American man-of-war _St. Mary's_, Commander
+C. H. Davis. Promptly in her wake came the British steamer _Esk_,
+Captain Sir Robert McClure. The two formidable ships lay not many cable
+lengths apart in the harbour. The day after his arrival Sir Robert sent
+a boat's crew aboard a small schooner lying near the shore to ask the
+meaning of the ensign which she was flying at the masthead. It was a
+handsome flag, composed of three horizontal stripes, blue, white, and
+blue; in the middle stripe, which was twice the width of either of the
+outer ones, was a five-pointed red star. The ensign was that of the new
+republic of Nicaragua, and the vessel, as her commander, Fayssoux,
+politely replied, was the Nicaraguan schooner-of-war _Granada_. Sir
+Robert then ordered him to come on board the _Esk_, and bring his
+commission with him; to which the plucky Louisianian, with the blood of
+revolutionary ancestors boiling at the impertinence, replied that he
+would do nothing of the kind; and when the English captain threatened a
+broadside, the Nicaraguan commander beat to quarters--he had a score of
+men--loaded his two six-pound carronades, and awaited destruction as
+calmly as if he had the deck of a seventy-four under his feet. But Sir
+Robert, either fearing to exceed his authority, or labouring under the
+delusion that the _St. Mary's_ captain might not relish the idea of
+seeing his fellow-countrymen annihilated before his eyes, softened the
+demand into a request for a friendly visit, which Captain Fayssoux
+thereupon paid him. A nobler motive may have actuated Sir Robert, for
+he was a sailor, and had traditions of his country's honour, which it
+were worth an American officer's commission to entertain. The latter
+has never forgotten the awful example handed down from the early days
+of Commodore Porter, who was court-martialed and forced out of the
+service because he exacted an apology from some Spanish vagabonds who
+had imprisoned an American officer visiting Porto Rico under a flag of
+truce.
+
+When Sir Robert went to Rivas, some days afterwards, to demand an
+explanation of Fayssoux's conduct, he was met by Walker, at the outset
+of the interview, with the stern inquiry: "I presume, sir, you have
+come to apologize for the outrage offered to my flag and the commander
+of the Nicaraguan schooner-of-war _Granada_." And the gallant sailor
+actually forgot his wrath in his wonder, and made a suitable apology to
+the wounded dignity of the chief of a thousand men and one schooner.
+"If they had another schooner," said he, "I believe they would have
+declared war on Great Britain." Had he known the mission of the _St.
+Mary's_ at San Juan, he might have come to a different conclusion; for
+the instructions of Commander Davis, which he faithfully obeyed,
+directed him to aid the Allies in forcing Walker and his men to
+capitulate. Why? Walker says, because Commodore Mervin, who had given
+the orders, was a bosom friend of Secretary Marcy--a possibly
+sufficient reason, since Marcy's power was absolute in the conduct of
+the minor foreign relations. Davis says, because the interests of
+humanity prompted him to save Walker in spite of himself--a reason
+perhaps as good as the other. The reader must guess at the true motive,
+as Blue-books do but fulfil their mission in confusing the truth.
+
+The enemy receiving large reinforcements, was enabled to mass about two
+thousand men at San Jorge, where they were a constant danger and
+annoyance. Walker determined to dislodge them. On the 16th of March he
+took personal command of four hundred men, and marched out to meet the
+enemy, two thousand five hundred strong. Henningsen, with two
+six-pounders, one twelve-pounder, and four mortars, went ahead to clear
+the way. Swingle and the rest of the battery remained to guard Rivas;
+and it was well that they did so, for a large force of Costa Ricans
+made a determined assault as soon as Walker was out of sight, and were
+not repulsed until after a fight of some hours' duration. They fell
+back on the road to San Jorge, a couple of hundred of them taking up a
+position behind the adobe walls of a planter's house, and there lying
+in wait for the return of Walker and his command.
+
+The latter arrived before daybreak at the suburbs of San Jorge and at
+once opened a brisk fire on the town; but the enemy were on the alert,
+and swarmed like angry bees out of their streets and lanes, pressing on
+the battery and throwing out lines of skirmishers on either side, who
+opened a galling fire on the American cavalry. Henningsen thereupon
+threw a shower of grape and canister among the plantain fields on the
+right and left, driving in the skirmishers, while Walker led the main
+body of his men towards the centre of the town. The enemy contested
+every inch of the ground, until driven to within three hundred yards of
+the plaza, where their immense superiority of numbers and the shelter
+afforded by the adobe walls and church towers gave them a position of
+impregnable strength. Walker, nevertheless, called for forty volunteers
+to storm the place. But fifteen responded, and with that handful he
+charged boldly into the plaza, fighting with desperate but vain courage
+against the tremendous odds. Two horses were killed under him, and a
+spent ball struck him in the throat. His men were brave to madness, but
+they were worn out with the long day's service, their ammunition was
+running short, and Walker at last gave order to retire to Rivas. They
+left the field on which they had fought from daybreak almost to sunset
+in good order, Walker riding at the head of the column, and Henningsen
+covering the rear with his guns. No opposition was made to their
+departure, and not until the head of the column came abreast of the
+planter's house at Cuatros Esquinas did they learn of the presence
+there of the 200 Costa Ricans who had been repulsed by Swingle in the
+morning.
+
+As Walker and his staff rode by the dark and silent house, a blaze of
+musketry lit up its front, not thirty yards away. Fortunately the
+marksmen's aim was bad, and not over half a dozen saddles were emptied;
+but the column was thrown into temporary confusion, and some of the men
+fell back, while others stood panic-stricken, until another volley sent
+them galloping in dismay. Walker, with the invincible calmness which
+never deserted him, reined in his horse, drew his revolver and fired
+its six shots into the house; then putting spurs to his steed, he rode
+by, erect as if on parade, while the musket balls fell like hail around
+him. A long-haired Californian, Major Dolan, who was riding behind him,
+deliberately imitated his commander, emptying his pistol to the last
+shot, and hurling the useless weapon at the house, with an imprecation,
+as he dropped from his saddle, riddled with bullets. His clothing
+caught in the trappings of his horse, and he was thus dragged out of
+the _melée_, to survive and fight another day. The rest of the force
+ran the gauntlet as best they could. Many were killed in a vain attempt
+to carry the house by storm. The rear guard with the artillery made a
+detour, and losing their way, did not arrive at Rivas until the next
+morning. To the poor marksmanship alone of the enemy can be charged the
+small loss of the filibusters before San Jorge and in the ambuscade at
+Cuatros Esquinas, the total number in killed and wounded being only
+some sixty or seventy.
+
+A week afterwards, the whole Allied force, led in by a deserter, made a
+concerted attack on Rivas, at daybreak, from four different directions.
+They were beaten off with dreadful slaughter, leaving six hundred dead
+on the field. The attack was most serious on the north side of the
+city, where a small battery was placed in a position to rake the
+American lines. It was handled well and bravely by an Italian gunner
+who, though exposed to a galling fire from the American sharpshooters,
+continued to load and fire with the utmost deliberation, advancing his
+piece a little nigher after each discharge. Henningsen, an adept in the
+same branch of warfare, stood upon the parapet of the low wall, rolling
+and smoking cigarettes, as he watched with admiration the actions of
+his cool adversary, and directing the management of a small gun which
+the American artillerymen were serving with less than their usual
+skill. At last, losing patience with his men, he leaped into the
+embrasure, and sighting the gun himself, threw a six-pound ball
+straight into the enemy's piece, which it dismounted, killing four of
+the gunners and wounding the Italian captain. The latter being made
+prisoner, the hostile batteries ceased to annoy the besieged for some
+time, until the gallant gunner, escaping from his captors, was enabled
+to resume his duties.
+
+In this assault the besieged suffered but a trifling loss, as the
+shelter of the adobe walls ensured them safety against any force which
+it was in the power of the enemy to bring forward. When the latter
+pushed their barricades too close to the walls of Rivas, the besieged
+fired hot shot into them and burned the swarming hordes out of their
+nests. Mora cared nothing for the lives of his wretched conscripts,
+whom he could afford to lose by hundreds, as long as the Americans fell
+by dozens and were not reinforced, and while the Allies could cut off
+supplies of food and ammunition from the beleaguered city.
+Unfortunately for Walker, a more dangerous enemy than death or hunger
+assailed Rivas. Desertion, which had begun with the weak-hearted new
+men, gradually spread like a pestilence, until he hardly knew in whom
+to trust. Whole companies deserted at a time; pickets abandoned their
+posts; foraging parties sent out to collect food for the hungry
+garrison never came back. As early as October, a company of rangers
+sent into the Chontales district had deserted with their equipments, on
+a wild attempt to reach the Atlantic by way of the Blewfields river.
+They never reached the coast, for some French settlers whom they had
+attempted to plunder fell upon them and slew them to a man.
+
+Famine threatened Rivas. There was not an ounce of bread in the city;
+the men were living on scanty rations of horse and mule meat, seasoned
+with sugar in lieu of salt; the hospital was filled with wounded and
+fever patients. Henningsen said jestingly that, rather than surrender,
+they would devour the prisoners. Once it was whispered in the ranks
+that Walker and Henningsen, in anticipation of a successful assault on
+the town, had prepared a magazine with which to blow up the citadel in
+the moment of defeat, and with it friend and foe together. The rumour
+was a silly falsehood, but so much impression did it make upon some of
+the hardier spirits that, as General Henningsen told the author, seven
+of them came to him, each begging for the privilege of firing the
+train. Walker was not reduced to any such straits; he had yet three
+forlorn hopes; the arrival, by the San Juan river of Lockridge with
+reinforcements; assistance from California, and, as a last resource,
+flight to the north on board his schooner _Granada_. The first never
+came, because Lockridge, defeated before Castillo Viejo, had given up
+the hopeless task. The second failed when Morgan refused to co-operate
+with his partner, Garrison, in continuing to run the steamers from San
+Francisco. On the _Granada_, then, depended the only hope of retreat
+with honour. Walker, however, did not as yet know that the first and
+second hopes had failed him.
+
+On the 10th of April, the Allies made another attack on the town, and
+were again repulsed with even greater loss than on the previous
+occasion. Commander Davis, who had been negotiating with the Allies,
+sent word to Walker, on the 23rd of April, offering a safe convoy to
+the women and children from Rivas to San Juan del Sur, an offer which
+was thankfully accepted.
+
+On being relieved of his non-combatants, Walker felt that no obstacle
+now stood in the way of his evacuation of the city, whenever he deemed
+it proper, and a safe withdrawal on board of the schooner. Fayssoux had
+continued to keep a close watch on the enemy's movements in San Juan,
+preventing them throwing up fortifications or doing anything which
+should embarrass the occupation of the town by Walker. Commander Davis,
+acting as a peace-maker between the belligerents, but finding his
+office one of perilous delicacy for a raw diplomat, and being governed
+apparently by secret instructions, which new orders from Washington
+might nullify at any moment if he delayed too long, now brought matters
+to an unexpected crisis, by demanding Walker's surrender to the United
+States authorities. Such an astonishing demand had never before been
+made by a subordinate naval officer upon the President of a friendly
+government. It was indignantly and promptly rejected. Davis then
+assured Walker of the truth of two rumours which had reached Rivas;
+the first, that Lockridge had given up his attempt to retake the
+Transit route; the second, that no more steamers were to come from San
+Francisco. Accepting both statements, which were true, Walker replied
+that he purposed holding the city as long as his supplies lasted,
+after which he intended carrying his command on board the Nicaragua
+schooner-of-war _Granada_, and removing whithersoever he pleased.
+To which Davis responded, that it was his "unalterable and deliberate
+intention" to take possession of the schooner before he sailed from San
+Juan; that his instructions on that point were clear and imperative;
+and nothing but a countermand of his orders should induce him to depart
+from that intention. The enemy had previously made Fayssoux an offer of
+five thousand dollars to surrender the schooner; but what could not be
+won by force or bribe was more cheaply gained through the extraordinary
+action of an officer holding the commission and authority of the United
+States. Walker has been accused of ingratitude because he protested
+against the interference of Commander Davis. It was said that the
+United States had saved the filibusters from extermination; but there
+was not a man in Rivas who did not spurn the spurious claim. Ungrateful
+step-children, they had cherished a different ideal of a mother
+country!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Ultimatum of Captain Davis--Evacuation of Rivas--Statistics of the
+campaign--Henningsen's opinion of his men--Characteristic anecdotes
+--Frederick Ward--A filibuster's apotheosis.
+
+
+The ultimatum of Davis, backed by the power at his command, destroyed
+Walker's last hope of retaining his hold in Nicaragua; this too, at a
+time when the tide of fortune had begun to show signs of turning. In
+despair of ever taking the city by assault, the Allies had sat down to
+besiege it, with scant patience. The formidable army of seven thousand
+which had invested Rivas in January had decreased within two months,
+through death and defection, to a comparatively small force of less
+than two thousand, two-thirds of them Costa Ricans and other
+foreigners. These were, moreover, short of powder, threatened with
+cholera and the rainy season, and so reduced as to be unable to man
+effectively the investing works, through which the American scouts
+penetrated freely when they pleased. With the garrison, desertion had
+done its worst. Walker had still with him 260 of his best fighting men,
+with plenty of arms and ammunition and two or three days' provisions.
+To cut his way through the hostile lines and reach his schooner would
+have been a much less difficult feat than Henningsen's evacuation of
+Granada. Capitulation had never been discussed or thought of by Walker,
+nor had Commander Davis hinted at his intention of seizing the
+_Granada_, until her possession had become of vital importance to the
+besieged.
+
+The Leonese in the North had begun to murmur at the cost and misery of
+this prolonged, fruitless war, whose advantages, should it end
+favourably to the Allies, would most likely be reaped by those whom
+they loved no better than they did the Americans of the North. Walker,
+had he been allowed to embark his fighting men in safety, might expect
+to awaken in those old friends a new and stronger friendship, and
+resume the fight against the Serviles from the original point at
+Realejo. The possession of over a hundred prisoners, whom he could have
+carried with him as hostages, was a sufficient guarantee for the safety
+of the sick and wounded whom he would have been compelled to leave
+behind. Such, at least, are the arguments embodied in Henningsen's
+protest, and the facts conceded by all authorities justify his
+conclusions. But half of Walker's ammunition was on board the schooner,
+without which it would have been madness to attempt a change of base in
+presence of the enemy.
+
+Walker, finding that Davis was firm in his determination, sent General
+Henningsen and Colonel Watters to meet the naval autocrat at the
+headquarters of the Allies and arrange terms of capitulation. An
+agreement was drawn up and submitted to Walker, on the 13th of April,
+but he declined to sign it, as it contained no provisions guaranteeing
+the safety in person and property of his native adherents who should
+have to remain in Nicaragua. Among the latter were many devoted men who
+had kept faithful to his fortunes throughout all, and on whom the wrath
+of the enemy would fall as soon as the dread filibusters should leave
+the country. On the next day an agreement was submitted and accepted by
+both parties, the provisions of which were as follows:--
+
+    "RIVAS, May 1, 1857.
+
+    "An agreement is hereby entered into between General William
+    Walker, on the one part, and Commander C. H. Davis, of the United
+    States Navy, on the other part, and of which the stipulations are
+    as follows:--Firstly. General William Walker, with sixteen officers
+    of his staff, shall march out of Rivas, with their side-arms,
+    pistols, horses, and personal baggage, under the guarantee of the
+    said Captain Davis, of the United States Navy, that they shall not
+    be molested by the enemy, and shall be allowed to embark on board
+    the United States vessel of war, the _St. Mary's_, in the harbour
+    of San Juan del Sur, the said Captain Davis undertaking to
+    transport them safely, on the _St. Mary's_ to Panama.
+
+    "Secondly. The officers of General Walker's army shall march out of
+    Rivas with their side-arms, under the guarantee and protection of
+    Captain Davis, who undertakes to see them safely transported to
+    Panama in charge of a United States officer.
+
+    "Thirdly. The privates and non-commissioned officers, citizens,
+    and _employés_ of departments, wounded or unwounded, shall be
+    surrendered, with their arms, to Captain Davis, or one of his
+    officers, and placed under his protection and control, he pledging
+    himself to have them transported safely to Panama, in charge of a
+    United States officer, in separate vessels from the deserters from
+    the ranks, and without being brought into contact with them.
+
+    "Fourthly. Captain Davis undertakes to obtain guarantees, and
+    hereby does guarantee that all natives of Nicaragua, or of Central
+    America, now in Rivas, and surrendered to the protection of Captain
+    Davis, shall be allowed to reside in Nicaragua, and be protected in
+    life and property.
+
+    "Fifthly. It is agreed that all such officers as have wives and
+    families in San Juan del Sur shall be allowed to remain there under
+    the protection of the United States consul, till an opportunity
+    offers of embarking for Panama or San Francisco.
+
+    "General Walker and Captain Davis mutually pledge themselves to
+    each other that this agreement shall be executed in good faith."
+
+
+Such is the text of the treaty between the representative of the United
+States and his captive. The lenity, unheard of before in Central
+American warfare, which the Allies thus offered to the men whom they
+had vowed to exterminate, shows how highly they valued the services of
+Captain Davis. That they did not keep their merciful promise to the
+native prisoners, but harried them in the good old-fashioned style as
+soon as the gallant captain had sailed away, does not detract from the
+merit of their promise. They would have promised anything to be rid of
+the troublesome filibustero.
+
+No stipulation had been made for the surrender of the ammunition and
+weapons of the besieged. Henningsen, therefore, before the evacuation
+began, set his gunners to work destroying all the artillery and
+ammunition, consisting of one four-pound brass gun, three
+five-pounders, two twelves, and three sixes, and four light iron
+twelve-pound mortars, also 55,000 cartridges, 300,000 caps, and 1,500
+pounds of powder; no contemptible supply of saltpetre for a garrison
+lacking in bread.
+
+The total number of men surrendering was 463, including 170 sick and
+wounded. One hundred and two prisoners taken from the Allies were set
+free and sent within the enemy's lines. Forty natives who had abided
+with him to the end, bade their grey-eyed chieftain a sorrowful adieu
+on the bright May morning that was his last in Rivas.
+
+Bravely and deliberately the filibusters marched out of the town,
+Walker riding at the head, with blade on thigh and pistol in belt, and
+the same impassive visage that he would have worn in mounting a throne
+or a gallows. After him, Henningsen, tall, martial, frank of face, then
+bearded like a whiskered Pandour, and not without traces of powder from
+his morning's work. Gaunt Hornsby, a Northern Quixote in face and
+figure, rode beside phlegmatic Bruno Von Natzmer, erst Prussian cornet
+of hussars and friend of Baron Bulow, until differences of national
+adoption set them lustily to fighting each other; more fortunate than
+the Costa Rican baron, he lived to fight another day; Henry and
+Swingle, doughty gunners; Watters--Colonel Jack--he of the relief of
+Granada; Williamson, West, and a dozen others, brave men and true,
+accompanied their leader. Other brave men and true, scores and
+hundreds, lay beneath the orange trees of Rivas and Granada and San
+Jorge, and a score of hard-fought fields, who never again might follow
+a filibuster's flag or awake to martial trump until that of Gabriel
+sounds their _reveillé_.
+
+Walker and sixteen of his officers were to go on board the _St.
+Mary's_, thence to Panama, and home. It is a striking, and in its way,
+an heroic picture, that of the filibuster chief parting from his wild,
+wayward, but devoted comrades. First, he must say not adieu but _au
+revoir_ to 250 privates and non-commissioned officers, escorted by a
+United States lieutenant, who curses his job, to Virgin Bay, thence
+homeward as circuitously as may be; also to the sad contingent of sick
+and wounded, homeward bound by another course; finally, he gives a look
+of pitying scorn upon a battalion of recreant deserters whom, for their
+own safety, Captain Davis must despatch to the home which yearns not
+for them, by yet another route.
+
+So fared they forth from Rivas and on to their several fates; Walker
+to gaze from the decks of the _St. Mary's_ at his beloved schooner
+_Granada_, now captured by Davis, as promised, and turned over, as also
+(privately) promised to the Costa Ricans, and commanded, not without
+much pomp and glory, by a Jamaico negro--horribly satirical sequel to
+that slavery decree which was to have regenerated Central America.
+Commander Davis, most respectable of naval magnates, passed from Rivas
+unto well-earned promotion, chiefly by dint of meritorious longevity,
+and died, in the fulness of time, an admiral, having achieved nothing
+more important in his long life than the forcible overthrow of the
+filibuster chief.
+
+The "Blue, White and Blue" has floated over Nicaraguan soil for the
+last time, save that one brief moment when it shall flutter and fall
+before the "Stars and Stripes" in the port of San Juan del Norte. So
+many and such varying stories have been told of the number of men who
+fought and died under its folds, that a summary of the actual force
+which during twenty months held possession of a country may not be
+uninteresting.
+
+It has been estimated by those who estimate by guess, that 5,000
+Americans perished in Nicaragua--that is to say, five-sevenths as many
+Americans as were killed and wounded in the Revolutionary War. It has
+also been guessed that Walker had from 10,000 to 20,000 men at his
+command. These guesses have been gravely crystallized into history,
+where history has condescended to notice the subject at all. The actual
+records of the adjutant-general, P. R. Thompson, show that exactly
+2,843 men were enlisted in all the campaigns. In addition to these,
+however, must be reckoned native volunteers, civilians who volunteered,
+and others who were impressed for temporary service--whose combined
+strength may have swelled the total to about 3,500.
+
+Against them was arrayed a force, in all, of 21,000 Servile
+Nicaraguans, Costa Ricans, Hondurans, Guatemalans and San Salvadorians,
+with at least 10,000 Indian auxiliaries. The Allies admitted a loss of
+15,000 in all the campaigns. One-third, perhaps, of the Americans died
+in Nicaragua. I take the assertions of General Henningsen, in the
+absence of any official figures. Some estimate of their deeds may be
+gathered from the surgical report, which showed that the proportion of
+wounds treated was 137 to every hundred men. Those who did not shirk
+their duty must have carried away many a scar, when they were fortunate
+enough to carry away their lives, to average the immunity of the
+cowardly and the false. It is not placing the proportion too high to
+say that about one thousand five hundred was the number of those who
+were steadfast and true.
+
+These were mostly Californians, when to be Californian meant to belong
+to that race of giants who had come from all parts of the earth in
+search of gold, and then journeyed two thousand miles further in search
+of adventure. Nine-tenths of them were Americans, of every rank in
+life, from college to prison graduates, who boasted that "California
+was the pick of the world, and they were the pick of California"; nor
+quarrelled with him who chose to put it, "California is the sink of the
+world, and we are the sewer of California." Young Southerners drifted
+to Nicaragua, as naturally as young Northerners ran away to sea. A son
+and a nephew of Senator Bayard ran away from school to join the
+filibusters, and might have added some military glory to the family
+name, but that Walker sent them home at the request of the American
+State department. Henningsen's first aid was a youth of nineteen, named
+Burbank, who had run away from the Virginia military institute, and
+would have been entitled, had he lived, to a fortune of 100,000
+dollars, which in those days was esteemed wealth. A rather worthless
+sergeant did actually fall heir to a fortune of that amount, which he
+was summoned home to enjoy, but purposely missed the steamer and
+remained to die in Nicaragua.
+
+All the strange, wild natures for whom even California had grown too
+tame, drifted naturally into the filibuster's camp. "I have heard,"
+says Henningsen, "two greasy privates disputing over the correct
+reading and comparative merits of Æschylus and Euripides. I have seen
+a soldier on guard incessantly scribbling strips of paper, which turned
+out to be a finely versified translation of his dog's-eared copy of the
+'_Divina Commedia_.'"
+
+The same appreciative commander testifies to the invincible heroism and
+fortitude of those men: "I have often seen them marching with a broken
+or compound-fractured arm in splints, and using the other to fire the
+rifle or revolver. Those with a fractured thigh, or wounds which
+rendered them incapable of removal, often (or, rather, in early times,
+always) shot themselves, sooner than fall into the hands of the enemy.
+Such men," he adds, "do not turn up in the average of every-day life,
+nor do I ever expect to see their like again. I was on the Confederate
+side in many of the bloodiest battles of the late war; but I aver that
+if, at the end of that war, I had been allowed to pick five thousand of
+the bravest Confederate or Federal soldiers I ever saw, and could
+resurrect and pit against them one thousand of such men as lie beneath
+the orange trees of Nicaragua, I feel certain that the thousand would
+have scattered and utterly routed the five thousand within an hour. All
+military science failed, on a suddenly given field, before assailants
+who came on at a run, to close with their revolvers, and who thought
+little of charging a battery, pistol in hand." Ten men, all officers,
+did in the first battle of Rivas actually charge and capture a battery
+manned by over a hundred Costa Ricans, half of the little band being
+slain in the heroic feat.
+
+Their enemies bear witness to the splendid courage of the filibusters
+and their indomitable _sang-froid_ when called upon to face the
+fusillade which almost always awaited them if captured. Chevalier Belly
+tells of a filibuster captured, with a broken leg, and condemned to be
+shot, who curtly replied to the questions of a sympathetic person, as
+to why he had come to Nicaragua, whether he believed in a future state,
+and so forth; until losing patience at what he deemed such idle speech,
+he burst out: "Here, we've had enough of this fooling! If you mean to
+have this funeral come off bring on your mourners and let us get
+through with it."
+
+Men who possessed the military genius, which upon a broader field had
+earned them fame and fortune, lie in unhonoured graves; because on
+their field bravery and skill meant only increased chances of death.
+Men of highest education, family, and wealth, lie beside felons and
+outcasts. Some survived to pursue their adventurous career in other
+lands, many to die in the American Civil War. One of them, Frederick
+Townsend Ward, descendant of straitest Puritan ancestry, a native of
+Salem, Massachusetts, graduated from the filibuster's school to wander
+over to distant China, where, the Taiping rebellion occurring in the
+nick of time, he entered the Imperial service, in which he presently
+attained to the chief command. So well did the doughty filibuster
+practise the lessons learned in his old school, that he soon became one
+of the greatest men in the Celestial kingdom, and was loaded with
+wealth and honours (two million dollars, it is said, of the former, but
+the native executors produced no assets), and might have risen to any
+position in that most conservative kingdom, perhaps even to the very
+throne and office of heaven's vice-gerent, had not an unlucky ball cut
+short his career at the siege of Ning-Po, and sent him to enjoy the
+most remarkable honours ever paid to a Yankee living or dead. For the
+grateful Pagans have erected two temples in his honour, and have
+solemnly enrolled his name among those of their country's gods. Even to
+this day there is kept perennially blooming over his tomb a spotless
+lily, emblematic of I know not what, which is constantly tended and
+nursed by loving hands, and shall perchance be so tended centuries to
+come, when Taiping and Filibuster shall have grown dim and hoary
+traditions in the busy, forgetful world outside the Middle Kingdom.
+China remembers the services of Ward. With us _alter tulit honores_,
+and an Englishman wears the glory of having suppressed the Taiping
+rebellion. Of a different type was the young Californian, Joaquin
+Miller, who has lived to embalm in heroic verse the memory of his
+chief--albeit, Walker, simple and severe, masquerades in a garb which
+he would have little yearned for or admired.
+
+Thus the poet pictures his hero as "tall, courtly, grand as any king,"
+with
+
+    "A piercing eye, a princely air,
+    A presence like a chevalier,
+    Half angel and half Lucifer;
+    Fair fingers, jewell'd manifold
+    With great gems set in hoops of gold;
+    Sombrero black, with plume of snow
+    That swept his long silk locks below;
+    A red serape with bars of gold,
+    Heedless falling, fold on fold;
+    A sash of silk, where flashing swung
+    A sword as swift as serpent's tongue,
+    In sheath of silver chased in gold;
+
+    And Spanish spurs with bells of steel
+    That dash'd and dangl'd at the heel."
+
+It is grand; it is magnificent; but--it is not our Filibuster, who was
+more impressive in his stern simplicity.
+
+To the more ignorant of his followers Walker's ulterior designs were
+naturally inexplicable. They thought that his purpose was merely that
+of a freebooter. Hence there arose a legend that he had amassed a
+mighty treasure which, like that of Captain Kidd, still lies hidden,
+awaiting discovery by some lucky seeker. Long years after his death the
+following story was told by a relative of one of the surviving
+filibusters, named Samuel Lyons:
+
+"By his bravery and strategy Samuel became one of Walker's most trusted
+men, and he was one of the four officers who helped Walker bury his
+treasure. There were five mule loads of it--gold and silver, money and
+bullion, including a great deal which had been plundered from the
+churches, the chapels, and private mansions. At eleven o'clock one
+moonlight night Walker and four officers buried the treasure under a
+big tree near the brow of a hill. I have heard Samuel tell how they
+scraped away the leaves on the ground before they dug the pit. I have a
+pretty good idea of the locality myself, but he knows just where it is,
+and can find it even if the tree is removed. The treasure was buried
+just before the two final engagements which crushed the hopes of
+Walker. The next morning after that little moonlight excursion the
+first of these engagements occurred, and in it two of the officers who
+had seen the treasure buried were killed. After that engagement the
+army--if it could be called one--lived on bananas alone for two weeks
+in a big banana plantation, and had a hard time of it. Then came the
+last engagement, in which Walker, Samuel, and the rest were captured.
+There is only one of the four accompanying officers who is not
+accounted for; but as nothing was heard of him after that engagement
+Samuel has always believed that he was killed then or executed with the
+captives who met death in that way. He certainly was not with the party
+that so wonderfully escaped with Samuel, and who, I think, were the
+sole survivors of that engagement. If he be dead, or rather, if he died
+then, Samuel alone has the secret."
+
+Most lovers of the marvellous would be satisfied with this delectable
+dish of treasure and gore, but another "survivor," with a still more
+able-bodied imagination, gravely corrects the first narrator, by
+saying:
+
+"The writer hereof knows something of that treasure, and personally
+examined it, and in lieu of five mule loads, there were _five tons
+of it_. It is well known that the most horrible chapter in that
+most horrible of wars was the burning and pillaging of Granada by
+General Henningsen, under Walker's orders, in November, 1856. The
+churches--some twenty or more, immensely rich in plate and jewels--were
+secretly and systematically despoiled, and their great booty was safely
+stowed away on board a Lake Nicaragua steamer before the doomed city
+was given up to pillage. What became of that immense spoil has been a
+mysterious secret, and was so regarded by the filibusters at the time.
+_It was worth millions._ To allay suspicion as to its true disposition
+Walker gave out that it was shipped to New Orleans to be disposed of on
+account of his government, and that the proceeds thereof would be used
+in purchasing military supplies. That spoil was buried, and, to my own
+personal knowledge, the officer who had it in charge and commanded the
+squad who guarded it now lives in San Bernardino. He informs me (and we
+have frequently discussed the matter) that, under the immediate
+supervision of Walker, he and five other officers and about twenty men
+buried that treasure in the village of St. George, on Lake Nicaragua,
+under a room in the house wherein the booty was so sacredly guarded.
+Walker exacted the most solemn oath of secrecy, giving substantial
+gratuities and promising future rewards to the whole party if they
+would faithfully guard the secret of the hidden church-spoil of the
+burned city. Inside of a month the whole party who were in the secret,
+save my friend and informant and two or three of the officers therein
+engaged, were sent away on a feigned expedition; were given out as
+deserters; were pursued by a large party of cavalry, and, by Walker's
+order, shot to a man when overhauled by the pursuing party. Soon
+thereafter, at a desperate battle fought at St. George on January 16,
+1857, the last man of the party who assisted in burying the church
+spoil, save my friend of San Bernardino, was killed, and in such a way
+as to confirm in the mind of my informant the opinion that all had been
+killed by Walker's order, and that the General intended to be the only
+custodian of the secret of the hidden treasure. Although my informant
+was a faithful and trusted officer, high in Walker's favour, still the
+prompt and tragic ending of his comrades and sharers in the dread
+mystery produced such an impression on his mind that he at once
+deserted. He carried the secret with him and yet has it, and he is the
+only man living who knows where the Granada booty lies hidden, _and
+he don't know_. And why not? Well, the spoil was buried in December;
+in January the enemy by a forced march, possessed themselves of St.
+George; Walker took position at Rivas, three miles distant, and, within
+the next three months, utterly exhausted his army in his vain
+endeavours to repossess himself of the insignificant village that
+contained this immense wealth. In the terrific conflicts that ensued
+the village was razed to the ground. This the writer hereof knows,
+because he fought through all of those engagements."
+
+Nothing (save truth) is lacking to make this circumstantial narrative
+all that it should be. Like most of the improbable charges made against
+Walker, it emanated from his deserters, who have done more than any
+others to blacken his memory.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+Walker returns to the United States--Crabbe's expedition--Renewed
+attempts of Walker--The expedition to San Juan del Norte.
+
+
+Walker's reception in New York, on his return to the United States, was
+like that of a conqueror. The city wore a holiday appearance; tens of
+thousands of citizens flocked to see the hero; Broadway was decked with
+banners as on a national festival. Public meetings were called to give
+him welcome and sympathy. Walker received the homage with dignified
+modesty, and resolutely avowed his determination to recover his lost
+power at the first opportunity. As the lawful President of Nicaragua,
+he protested against the action of the United States, to him a foreign
+power, in driving him from his country. He went to Washington, to lay
+before the State Department his complaint against Commander Davis, and
+was received with diplomatic politeness; but the case was referred to
+the consideration of Congress, where it was effectually buried under a
+mountain of verbiage. Thence he made a journey through the South, being
+welcomed and fêted with even more enthusiasm than he had received in
+the North. Arriving at New Orleans, he made his first appearance
+publicly in a box at one of the theatres. When the audience became
+aware of his presence they turned with one impulse from the mimic
+romance of the stage to gaze at the living hero whose exploits made
+tame the wildest flights of imagination, and cheer upon cheer went up
+from pit and gallery. Walker was hailed as a hero and a martyr, and his
+bitterest enemies were silenced for the time, when Henningsen, whom
+they had expected, from some unknown reason, to villify his commander,
+not only disappointed that hope, but lauded everywhere the character
+and principles of the great filibuster. He also laid before Secretary
+Cass an indignant protest against the outrage inflicted upon a friendly
+nation, whose only offence towards the United States lay in the fact
+that its president had the misfortune to be by birth an American.
+Technically the filibusters had serious reason for complaint. But the
+demand for reparation fell upon deaf ears. The President of the United
+States cared nothing for the fact that the title of the President of
+Nicaragua to his office was in law as good as that of James Buchanan to
+his. Buchanan, as Walker soon saw, was not the man to add another
+bramble to his already too painful bed of thorns; and the bold
+filibuster decided to seek outside the pale of law that redress which
+was denied him within it.
+
+While Walker and his men were battling for their lives in Rivas, during
+the months of March and April, 1857, another and a bloody scene in the
+tragedy of filibusterism was being enacted on the stage which had
+witnessed the failures of De Boulbon and Walker. Towards the end of
+March one hundred and fifty men from California were led across the
+boundary line into the northern part of Sonora by Henry A. Crabbe, a
+former friend of Walker, and like him, a man of bold and ambitious
+character. He had been one of the most useful agents in organizing the
+latter's expedition to Nicaragua, and through him Walker had secured
+some of his most efficient officers, Hornsby, Fisher, and De Brissot,
+all of whom had been concerned in a contract between Crabbe and Jerez
+similar in its terms to that afterwards made between Castellon and
+Walker.
+
+Crabbe was an ex-Senator of the State of California; in his party were
+seven former members of the legislature and one present senator,
+together with the former State treasurer and State comptroller; men who
+had outlived their popularity, perhaps, or who had become tired of
+humdrum life and sought a new career in Sonora, the graveyard of
+adventurers. Nor was the military element lacking. Colonel Watkins, who
+had been with Walker in his expedition to the same country, and a
+former lieutenant in the regular army, Colonel T. D. Johns,
+superintended the military department as the expedition crossed the
+line. They marched through the country without hindrance until they
+passed Sonoyta and approached Caborca, on the Gulf of California, near
+Point Lobos. There for the first time the Mexicans showed a hostile
+front. Crabbe had issued an address to the inhabitants, in which he
+claimed that his business in the country was peaceable, his object
+being the prosecution of a mining scheme in Sonora; and maintained
+that, while his party were armed, they had come so only for
+self-defence against the Apache Indians. The truth of the matter was
+that Crabbe had been invited to Sonora by the partisans of a political
+minority, whose leader, Don Ignacio Pesqueira, had meanwhile gained his
+political ends without the aid of foreign allies, and was much
+disturbed lest the inopportune arrival of the latter should reflect
+upon his present loyalty. Crabbe, who had at much cost and labour
+organized his immigrants and arranged for the future immigration of
+nine hundred more men, was not disposed to abandon his project. He was
+allied by marriage with some of the leading families in the State, and
+may have cherished hopes of exchanging places with Pesqueira in
+Sonorian affairs. If he counted upon the assistance of the native
+population he was doomed to a cruel disappointment.
+
+On the 1st of April, when the expeditionists were within six miles of
+Caborca, they were fired upon by an ambushed party of natives; at the
+same time a strong force appeared in front, drawn up to contest the
+road. The filibusters opened fire upon them, killing at the first
+volley Colonel Rodriguez, the commander, and driving the Mexicans
+before them into the town. The fugitives rallied in the plaza and
+fortified themselves in the main church. The assailants occupied the
+houses opposite, whereupon the natives, seeing that the church was not
+attacked, plucked up courage to garrison the adjacent buildings and
+harass the invaders. Crabbe soon perceived his error in allowing the
+enemy to assume the offensive, and made one or two futile attempts to
+carry the church by assault. The fighting lasted through eight days. On
+the last, Crabbe with fifteen men tried to blow up the church by means
+of gunpowder, but the enemy kept up such a sharp fire that he was
+compelled to desist, with four of his men shot down and himself badly
+wounded. He now sent a flag of truce, offering to withdraw his forces,
+if they should be allowed to leave the country. The Mexicans had
+themselves made such a proposition to him on the second day of the
+fight, which he had then rejected, as they now did, their relative
+positions having so much changed in the meanwhile. Gabilondo, the
+Mexican commander, disposed his force of five hundred men so as to hem
+in completely the unfortunate adventurers, until the Mexicans, having
+cut through the walls of the intervening houses, fought hand to hand in
+the passages and slowly drove the Americans into the last house on the
+street.
+
+Night fell upon the scene where fifty-eight surviving filibusters stood
+at bay, overcome with hunger, thirst, and hard fighting. They placed
+sentries and sought to snatch a few moments' rest, which was rudely
+broken by the crackling sound of fire above their heads. An Indian
+archer had lodged a flaming arrow in the thatched roof, and soon the
+fiery flakes were dropping upon the men within. In this desperate
+strait Crabbe sent word to the enemy that he was willing to surrender
+as a prisoner of war, on condition that he and his men should be given
+a fair trial. Gabilondo replied, accepting the terms of capitulation
+and promising to send the prisoners to El Altar for trial. They were
+ordered to leave the house one by one, and without their arms, and
+then, their hands being bound, they were marched to the barracks.
+Crabbe was separated from the rest and brought before the Mexican
+commander, who offered to give him his life if he would point out where
+he had buried his treasure, some ten thousand dollars. Crabbe,
+remembering the bad faith of Pesqueira, and rightly judging that the
+possession of the money by Gabilondo would be anything but a guaranty
+of the owner's safety, refused, and was sent to his cell. The surrender
+had taken place at eleven o'clock in the evening. One hour after
+midnight a sergeant entered the barracks and read to the assembled
+prisoners their sentence of death by the fusillade at daybreak.
+
+At the appointed hour they were led out on the plaza, where, after the
+executioners, with an eye to thrift, had first stripped them of their
+valuable articles of clothing, they were shot in cold blood, without
+the form of a trial. A boy of twelve was spared to witness the brutal
+scene. The bodies were rifled of their rings, and in some cases even
+the gold fillings in their teeth, after which they were thrown into a
+burial ground where the wild hog and the coyote fattened on them. To
+Crabbe was accorded the honour of dying last and alone. He was tied to
+a post and riddled with bullets. His head was cut off and exhibited in
+a jar of vinegar for several days, a sight which so stimulated the
+heroism of the natives that they fell upon a party of sixteen peaceful
+travellers a few days afterwards and cut them off to a man, while
+another bold band crossed into the American territory and murdered four
+sick men, presumed to have been adherents of Crabbe. Of the nine
+hundred men who were to have joined Crabbe from California, only some
+fifty appeared in the vicinity of Caborca, where being set upon by the
+natives they succeeded only with great difficulty in making their way
+back across the boundary line.
+
+Mr. Forsyth, the American minister to Mexico, took pains to investigate
+the matter, and laid before his own Government and that of Mexico the
+results of his inquiry. He pronounced the execution of the prisoners
+"legal murder," a conclusion which apparently satisfied both parties,
+the Americans because it was "legal," and the Mexicans because it was
+"murder," and so the matter was allowed to drop. It ended filibusterism
+in that country. The American apostle of liberty no longer heeds the
+cry of the oppressed of any faction. Nor is it likely, since the world
+was shocked by the execution of the Austrian archduke, that many
+Europeans will be found treading the wine-press for what they have been
+pleased to term the "regeneration" of Mexico.
+
+With the expulsion of the filibusters terminated for a time the war in
+Nicaragua. The Allied states formed a kind of protectorate over the
+republic, having first rewarded themselves, after the fashion of
+greater powers, by gathering a goodly share of the fruits of victory.
+Costa Rica was rewarded by the possession of Guanacaste and a strip of
+land bordering along the lake and the southern side of the San Juan
+river, a sufficiently small return for her outlay in the war, which had
+entailed a loss of so many thousand men, women, and children slain by
+cholera. The "Tiger of Honduras" was given material aid in driving from
+power at home the partisans of Cabañas. General Martinez, a descendant
+of the apocryphal heroine of San Carlos, was appointed President of
+Nicaragua, and at once sent a minister to Washington, who was received
+without question. Mr. Buchanan thus gave himself a plausible excuse for
+declining to recognize the claims of Walker. Señor Yrissari, the new
+minister, negotiated a new treaty for the construction of a canal, the
+terms of which not being considered favourable to Costa Rica, that
+state and Nicaragua were soon again preparing to grapple each other's
+throats.
+
+In spite of the vigilance of the United States authorities Walker
+continued planning schemes to resume the offensive on Nicaraguan soil.
+Being arrested on charge of organizing an unlawful expedition, he was
+acquitted, only to renew his preparations. Thirteen days after his
+discharge at New Orleans he appeared off the harbour of San Juan del
+Norte on board the steamer _Fashion_, but did not stop at that port
+until after he had landed Colonel Anderson and fifty men at the mouth
+of the river Colorado, a southerly branch of the San Juan. Returning to
+the harbour of San Juan, the _Fashion_ boldly came to anchor under the
+guns of the United States frigate _Saratoga_, and landed her cargo of
+war material and passengers to the number of a hundred and fifty men.
+The officers and most of the men were old veterans of Nicaragua,
+including the tried soldiers, Hornsby, Von Natzmer, Swingle, Tucker,
+Henry, Hoof, Fayssoux, Cook, McMullen, Haskins, Buttrick, and others.
+Captain Chatard, of the _Saratoga_, sent a boat on board the _Fashion_,
+but the passengers had landed before the lieutenant in command could
+prevent them. The only steps which the American officer felt himself
+authorized to take were to order the filibusters to respect American
+property on the Transit Company's ground, an injunction which Walker
+obeyed, after protesting that it was an infringement of his rights as
+President of Nicaragua, from and through whom the company held its
+privileges.
+
+Walker immediately formed his camp and awaited the reinforcements which
+he was daily expecting from the United States. Colonel Anderson, having
+ascended the Colorado and San Juan, suddenly appeared before Castillo
+Viejo and captured it without difficulty, a feat which the incompetent
+Titus and Lockridge had been unable to achieve with eight times his
+force. He also captured three or four of the river steamers, and was in
+a fair way to obtain supreme control of the Transit route, when the
+arrival at San Juan, on December 6th, of Commodore Hiram Paulding and
+the U.S. frigate _Wabash_ gave a new turn to affairs.
+
+Captain Chatard, not content with exercising a kind of police
+superintendence over the port of San Juan, began a series of petty
+annoyances, which, had they been intended to provoke Walker into a
+collision with the United States forces, could not have been better
+contrived. While the American captain professed to maintain a strict
+neutrality, he nevertheless issued orders to the expeditionists, and
+sent his boats out to practise firing where the filibusters on duty
+were exposed to injury unless they abandoned their posts. His officers
+insisted upon landing and entering Walker's camp without a pass; and
+when Walker, with more dignity than discretion, threatened to shoot
+anybody found trespassing within his lines, Captain Chatard retorted in
+a note (which Walker sent to Commodore Paulding,) assuring him that he
+would retaliate. "The childish follies," as Walker characterized them,
+of Captain Chatard failing to provoke a collision, Commodore Paulding,
+on the 7th of December, sent an imperative summons to surrender.
+Resistance to such a demand, backed as it was by two frigates and a
+complaisant British captain, who volunteered to aid Paulding in
+annihilating the American filibusters, would have been madness. On the
+next day Commodore Paulding landed a force of three hundred and fifty
+men in howitzer barges and formed them in order of battle, while the
+broadsides of the _Saratoga_ were sprung to bear on the camp. Captain
+Engle proceeded to the tent of General Walker and presented the demand
+for surrender, adding, "General, I am sorry to see you here. A man like
+you is worthy to command better men." Walker replied briefly that the
+virtue of his men would be apparent if their number and equipments were
+one half those of his captors.
+
+The flag of the filibusters was then hauled down, and the prisoners
+were sent on board the _Saratoga_ for transportation to the United
+States. Walker, being offered the choice of returning by way of
+Aspinwall, availed himself of the favour and went home at his own
+expense. Colonel Anderson, on learning of the capture, surrendered his
+command on the river and returned to New Orleans. Arriving at New York,
+Walker gave himself up to a United States marshal, in fulfilment of his
+parole to Commodore Paulding, and was sent a prisoner of war to
+Washington. But President Buchanan was by no means ready to support the
+act of his naval subordinate, and absolutely refused to accept the
+surrender or to recognize Walker as in the custody of the Government.
+In a message to Congress he reviewed at length the action of Commodore
+Paulding, which he pronounced unlawful, but cited the approbation of
+the _de facto_ government of Nicaragua as justifying the proceedings.
+In short, Paulding had infringed the rights of that country by an act
+of hostility towards its president and upon its soil; but, reasoned Mr.
+Buchanan, inasmuch as the enemies of Walker now in possession of the
+government of Nicaragua do not complain, therefore Commodore Paulding's
+action was not reprehensible. Nevertheless, it was a grave error and a
+dangerous precedent, should it be allowed to go unrebuked. Acting upon
+the logical sequence of that opinion, Walker demanded that the
+Government of the United States should indemnify him for his losses
+and, by granting free transportation to a new expedition, restore the
+_status quo ante_. Needless to say, the petition was not granted. He
+then instituted civil suits against Paulding, claiming damages for
+illegal arrest and detention, suits which lingered in the courts and
+never arrived at a decision.
+
+The _Fashion_ was condemned for having sailed from Mobile under a false
+clearance, and sold by the United States marshal for two hundred
+dollars. Her cargo, which was brought back by the frigates _Saratoga_
+and _Wabash_, showed that the filibusters had made ample preparations
+for the equipment of a force sufficient to have easily reconquered the
+country had they been able to secure a foothold. That their failure
+should be caused by the action of their fellow countrymen they had
+never dreamed. Walker, before his departure, had satisfied himself
+that he should suffer no harm if only he could get away in quiet.
+Least of all did he dream of being molested on foreign soil. Proof
+came readily, when it was too late to be of any service, that Paulding
+had transgressed his powers in breaking up the expedition. The cause of
+his enmity was not difficult to fathom. Paulding was an old shipmate
+and intimate friend of Walker's enemy, Commander Davis. Fate seems to
+rejoice in a certain kind of ironical cruelty, whereby she sends to a
+Napoleon the gad-fly, Hudson Lowe, and thwarts the ambition of a Walker
+by the pipe-clay petulance of a naval martinet. It is as though Cæsar
+had caught a cold, and died of it, in crossing the Rubicon. Paulding
+and other petty potentates chose to take offence at the disrespectful
+manner in which Walker, a mere uncommissioned adventurer, had dared
+speak of Commander Davis. They resented it as an insult to "the
+service," and when the subsequent correspondence with Commander Chatard
+was laid before the Commodore, his indignation knew no bounds. The man
+who would threaten to shoot a naval officer for penetrating his
+military lines without a pass could be only a pirate and outlaw. As
+such, Paulding had the filibuster arrested, although permitting him,
+with charming inconsistency, to go to New York on parole.
+
+But the irreparable mischief was done, and Walker found slight
+consolation in having his persecutor suspended from active service, or
+in the prosecution of endless civil suits for damages, a species of
+vengeance which carries its own punishment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+Walker's "History of the War "--Lands at Ruatan and takes Trujillo
+--Retreats before the English forces--Surrender--Trial and execution
+of the last of the Filibusters.
+
+
+During the following two years Walker continued his efforts to regain
+power in Nicaragua, his friends maintaining their unshaken confidence
+in his ability to succeed and in the "destiny" which had lately played
+him such sorry tricks. On the 30th of October, 1858, President Buchanan
+found it necessary to issue a proclamation calling attention to certain
+plans of emigration companies intending to colonise Nicaragua, the
+leading promoter of which was William Walker. "This person," it said,
+"who has severed the ties of loyalty which bind him to the United
+States, and who aspires to the presidency of Nicaragua, has notified
+the Collector of the port of Mobile that two or three hundred of those
+emigrants will be ready to embark and sail for that port towards the
+middle of November;" and the President warned the intending emigrants
+that they would not be allowed to carry out their project.
+
+In spite, however, of this proclamation a party of one hundred and
+fifty filibusters, commanded by Colonel Anderson, embarked about the
+1st of December on the schooner _Susan_ at the port of Mobile. The
+voyage terminated abruptly by shipwreck off the coast of Honduras,
+whence the expeditionists were rescued by a British vessel of war and
+carried back to their home. Doubleday thus describes the ruse by which
+the adventurers deceived the Federal authorities in escaping from
+Mobile:--
+
+    "No customs official had molested us while fast to the dock, but
+    when we had reached the open bay a shadowy vessel ran athwart our
+    bow in the semi-obscurity of the night, hailing us as she passed by
+    announcing herself a United States revenue cutter, commanded by
+    Captain Morris. He had orders if we should persist in sailing with
+    our present cargo, to sink us as soon as we were a marine league
+    from the shore, that distance constituting in their parlance the
+    open sea. This we agreed among ourselves was unpleasant. She
+    carried heavy guns while we carried none, and besides not even
+    Walker was quite prepared as yet to make war with the United
+    States.
+
+    "Captain Harry Maury, who commanded our schooner, was a thorough
+    sailor, intimately acquainted with the varying depths of the bay of
+    his native Mobile, and a true type of the oft-quoted chivalry of
+    the South. He furthermore had a rather intimate convivial
+    acquaintance with Captain Morris of the cutter.
+
+    "We therefore readily agreed that he should try his diplomatic
+    talent, to extricate us from our unpleasant situation, for he
+    assured us that Morris was a man to carry out his instructions.
+
+    "As the cutter again came around within hailing distance, Maury
+    hailed, asking permission to go aboard with a friend or two, for
+    discussion of the situation. Receiving a cordial invitation to
+    bring as many of his friends as he pleased, Colonel Anderson and I
+    accompanied him.
+
+    "The wind being very light the two vessels kept almost side by side
+    while we were in the cabin of the cutter. Maury remarked that to
+    men who were prospectively so near Davy Jones' locker, a glass of
+    grog would not be unacceptable.
+
+    "Morris, hospitably inclined, set forth champagne, drinking
+    fraternally with those whom a hard duty compelled him to immolate,
+    and, as bottle succeeded bottle, I saw that it was to become a
+    question of endurance.
+
+    "Perfect courtesy was sustained and still further tested when Maury
+    invited Morris to come aboard the schooner and try our wine,
+    pledging himself that he should be returned in safety to his own
+    vessel. Whatever Morris might have decided an hour before, he now
+    promptly accepted the invitation, following us in his own boat.
+
+    "Drinking was resumed on the schooner, and, as Morris was helped
+    into his boat, Maury told him that he would not keep so good a
+    fellow chasing us through the darkness of the night, but would
+    anchor and wait for daylight, cautioning him not to run into us
+    when our anchor went down.
+
+    "The night had become exceedingly dark, and as the captain of the
+    cutter reached his deck, Captain Maury called out, cautioning
+    Morris not to run into us when we should bring up.
+
+    "At the same time the order was given in a loud voice to 'let go,'
+    and by a preconcerted arrangement the anchor chain rattling through
+    one hawse-hole was pulled in at the other.
+
+    "Morris, supposing he heard the chain carrying our anchor down, let
+    go his own. As he brought up we shot ahead, and then came the
+    delicate part of the business.
+
+    "Maury had reckoned on the difference in draught between our vessel
+    and the cutter--about six inches--together with his superior
+    knowledge of the depths in the bay, to carry us over by a short cut
+    into the sea. He had arranged his manoeuvre to coincide with our
+    arrival at the spot on which he wished to make the test.
+
+    "We therefore headed directly across the channel, and Morris,
+    quickly perceiving the trick we had played him, followed as soon as
+    he could pull in his anchor. Even this delay gave us a start which
+    in the thick darkness deprived him of the advantage of our
+    pilotage. We afterwards learned that he did not go far before he
+    was fast on the bottom, and of course had to wait for high tide to
+    get off."[2]
+
+          [2] "The Filibuster War in Nicaragua."
+
+Shortly after the sailing of the _Susan_, the Collector of the port
+of New Orleans detained a steamship with a party of three hundred
+"emigrants" who were compelled to give up their design of colonizing in
+Central America. No further attempt was made by Walker until September,
+1859, when the guns of a United States frigate were brought to bear
+upon the steamer _Philadelphia_ at New Orleans, forcibly compelling her
+passengers to disembark. About the same time Lord Lyons, the British
+minister, notified the American executive that his Government had
+resolved to interfere in repelling forcibly any future attempts of
+Walker against Nicaragua. A squadron of English vessels of war was
+permanently stationed at San Juan del Norte, while a similarly strong
+force guarded the Pacific gate. The United States also kept a small
+fleet in the Caribbean Sea to watch the movements of the exiled
+president. Napoleon was hardly more of a nightmare to the Holy Alliance
+than was Walker to the two powerful countries which did him the honour
+of this surveillance.
+
+Meanwhile he was employing his enforced leisure in writing a history of
+his Nicaraguan career, which he published in the spring of 1860. The
+book, which was written in the third person, after the style of
+"Cæsar's Commentaries," is valuable chiefly as a reflection of the
+author's character. His modesty in alluding to his own exploits is
+extreme; but he makes no hesitation of avowing his principles as an
+ardent champion of slavery, devoting many pages to an exposition of
+arguments which were never logical and are now mournful and ridiculous.
+That he was sincere is unquestionable. He was a man who would live or
+die in support of his convictions, and who had too much sincerity of
+purpose ever to succeed in any undertaking which required duplicity. A
+proof of his impolitic honesty is found in the fact that at this period
+of his career he embraced the Catholic religion, a step not calculated
+to win him favour among either his political friends or enemies. It has
+been incorrectly stated that he joined the faith on becoming President
+of Nicaragua; it would have been a wise stroke of worldly policy for
+him to have done so. But the fact is, that he stoutly maintained his
+independence of thought until his reason was convinced, even though it
+might injure him with the clerical party in that country. In Napoleon's
+place Walker would never have donned the turban nor sought to
+conciliate the Pontiff, though the empire of a world rewarded the
+stroke. Empires are neither won nor held by men of such obstinate
+conscience.
+
+The evident impossibility of running the gauntlet of the British and
+American cruisers in the Caribbean Sea determined him to seek a new
+pathway to his cherished goal; and that way, he decided, lay through
+the exposed part of the enemy's territory, the eastern coast of
+Honduras. It would seem that at that time the Island of Ruatan, a
+fertile land with a population of about 1,700 souls, was not under the
+usual British man-of-war captain's sovereignty, but owed a nominal
+allegiance to the Republic of Honduras. Upon the always ready
+invitation of some of its inhabitants, Walker prepared to use it as a
+base of operations against his former enemy, President Alvarez, and as
+a stepping-stone to the real point of attack. Accordingly, in the early
+part of August, 1860, having made arrangements for a strong body of
+reinforcements to follow and join him at Trujillo, he sailed in the
+schooner _Clifton_ from Mobile with a force of about a hundred men,
+including the veterans Rudler, Henry, Dolan, and Anderson, and landed
+at Ruatan on the 15th of the month. There he issued a proclamation to
+the people of Honduras, which was an explicit avowal of his objects and
+desires:
+
+    "More than five years ago, I, with others, was invited to the
+    Republic of Nicaragua and was promised certain rights and
+    privileges on the condition of certain services rendered the state.
+    We performed the services required of us, but the existing
+    authorities of Honduras joined a combination to drive us from
+    Central America. In the course of events the people of the Bay
+    Islands find themselves in nearly the same position as the
+    Americans held in Nicaragua in November, 1855. The same policy
+    which led Guardiola to make war on us will induce him to drive the
+    people of the Islands from Honduras. A knowledge of this fact has
+    led certain residents of the Islands to call upon the adopted
+    citizens of Nicaragua to aid in the maintenance of their rights of
+    person and property; but no sooner had a few adopted citizens of
+    Nicaragua answered this call of the residents of the Islands by
+    repairing to Ruatan than the acting authorities of Honduras,
+    alarmed for their safety, put obstacles in the way of carrying out
+    the treaty of November 28, 1859. Guardiola delays to receive the
+    Islands because of the presence of a few men whom he has injured;
+    and thus, for party purposes, not only defeats the territorial
+    interests of Honduras, but thwarts, for the moment, a cardinal
+    object of Central American policy. The people of the Bay Islands
+    can be ingrafted on your Republic only by wise concessions properly
+    made. The existing authorities of Honduras have, by their past
+    acts, given proof that they would not make the requisite
+    concessions. The same policy which Guardiola pursued toward the
+    naturalized Nicaraguans prevents him from pursuing the only course
+    by which Honduras can expect to hold the Islands. It becomes,
+    therefore, a common object with the naturalized Nicaraguans, and
+    with the people of the Bay Islands, to place in the government of
+    Honduras those who will yield the rights lawfully required in the
+    two states. Thus, the Nicaraguans will secure a return to their
+    adopted country, and the Bay Islanders will obtain full guarantees
+    from the sovereignty under which they are to be placed by the
+    treaty of November 28, 1859. To obtain, however, the object at
+    which we aim, we do not make war against the people of Honduras,
+    but only against a government which stands in the way of the
+    interests, not only of Honduras, but of all Central America. The
+    people of Honduras may therefore rely on all the protection they
+    may require for their rights, both of person and property.
+
+    "WILLIAM WALKER."
+
+To capture the town of Trujillo, on the mainland, was the work of but
+half an hour, only a few of the assailants being injured. Walker
+received a slight wound in the face. Scarcely had the town been
+occupied when a British war-steamer, the _Icarus_, appeared on the
+scene. Captain Salmon, her commander, immediately notified Walker that
+the British Government held a mortgage against the revenues of the
+port, as security for certain claims, and that he intended to protect
+the interests of his Government by taking possession of the town.
+Walker replied that he had made Trujillo a free port, and consequently
+could not entertain any claims for revenues which no longer existed.
+The captain refused to recognize any change in the government of
+Honduras, and sent a peremptory demand for surrender, promising, in
+case of compliance, to carry the prisoners back to the United States,
+and threatening to open fire on the town if it were not given up.
+Meanwhile General Alvarez, with 700 soldiers, was preparing to make an
+assault by land. Thus hemmed in, Walker determined to evacuate
+Trujillo, which he did the following night, retreating down the coast
+with only eighty-eight men. In their haste they were compelled to leave
+behind all their heavy baggage and accoutrements, carrying only thirty
+rounds of ammunition each; the rest they destroyed at Trujillo. When
+the British landed next morning they were only in time to protect the
+sick and wounded in the hospital from the ferocious Hondurians. The
+_Icarus_ immediately took Alvarez and a strong force on board and
+steamed down the coast in pursuit.
+
+At the mouth of the Rio Negro they learned that Walker lay encamped at
+the Indian village of Lemas, whither the boats of the _Icarus_ were
+sent. They found the adventurers in no condition to oppose such
+overwhelming odds. They had carried with them from Trujillo only two
+barrels of bread, and being without blankets or overcoats, many had
+been attacked with fever from sleeping on the damp unhealthy ground. To
+reach Nicaragua in such miserable plight would have been impossible,
+even had they any hope of meeting a hospitable reception there. The
+Indians through whose territory they should have to pass were fierce
+and hostile to all intruders, and Olancho ("_Olancho, ancho para
+intrar, angosto para salir_"--"Easy to enter, hard to leave") lay in
+the way.
+
+Two cutters, with forty English marines and 200 Honduran soldiers,
+landed at the filibusters' camp on Sept. 3. To Captain Salmon's demand
+for unconditional surrender, Walker replied with the inquiry, whether
+he was surrendering to the British or to the Hondurenos? Captain Salmon
+twice assured him, distinctly and specifically, that it was to her
+Majesty's forces; whereupon the filibusters laid down their arms and
+were carried on board the _Icarus_. On arriving at Trujillo, Captain
+Salmon turned his prisoners over to the Honduran authorities, despite
+their protest and demand for trial before a British tribunal. But
+Captain Salmon was only a young and rather pompous commander who
+disdained to argue the case, although he so far interested himself as
+to secure the pardon of all except the leader and one faithful
+follower, Colonel Rudler. West, Dolan, and other veterans who had
+joined this last forlorn hope were either unknown to the Hondurenos, or
+not deemed of sufficient importance to merit severe punishment.
+
+Captain Salmon offered to plead for Walker, if the latter would ask his
+intercession as an American citizen. But Walker, with the bitter
+remembrance of all the injuries which his nativity had brought upon
+him, thanked his captor, and refused to demean himself by denying the
+country which had adopted and honoured him.
+
+He was arraigned before a court-martial on the 11th of September, and,
+after a brief examination, he was condemned to die by the fusillade
+next morning. He heard his sentence with calmness, and was remanded to
+prison to pass the night in preparing for death. At half-past seven
+o'clock on the morning of September 12th he was led out to the place of
+execution. He walked unfettered, with calm and firm tread. He carried a
+crucifix in his left hand, a hat in his right. A priest walked by his
+side, reciting the prayers for the dying. Two soldiers marched before
+him carrying drawn sabres; three more followed him with bayonets at the
+charge. Upon entering the hollow square of soldiery on the plaza he
+begged the priest to ask pardon in his name of any one whom he had
+wronged in his last expedition. Then, mounting the fatal stool, he
+addressed his executioners in Spanish, for none of his comrades had
+been allowed to witness the execution, and said:
+
+    "I am a Roman Catholic. The war which I made, in accordance with
+    the suggestion of some of the people of Ruatan, was unjust. I ask
+    pardon of the people. I receive death with resignation. Would that
+    it might be for the good of society!"
+
+Then, calm as he had ever been, whether in peace or in war, he awaited
+the fatal signal. The captain of the firing party gave a sharp order,
+dropped the point of his sabre, and, at the sign, three soldiers
+stepped forward to within twenty feet of the condemned, and fired their
+muskets. All of the balls took effect, but still the victim was not
+dead; whereupon a fourth soldier advanced, and placing the muzzle of
+his piece at the forehead of the victim, blew out his brains. The
+authorities refused to bury the body, and it was deposited in the Campo
+Santo by some pitying Americans and other foreigners. And so ended the
+last of the filibusters!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+Character of Walker--A private's devotion--Anecdote--After fate of
+the filibusters--Henningsen's epitaph--Last Cuban expedition--The
+_Virginius_ tragedy--An Englishman to the rescue--Finis.
+
+
+As Walker was the last, so he was the greatest of American filibusters.
+He was not a great man, nor by any means a good one; but he was the
+greatest and the best of his class. His fault was ambition. It was a
+fault with him because it was a failure. From such a verdict there is
+no appeal. No apology can be offered for ambition ungratified; and
+successful ambition needs none. But the world's estimate of his
+personal character and actions has been needlessly severe. He was not
+the insatiable monster of cruelty that his enemies have painted. He was
+a man of deep, if narrow, learning, fertile resources, and grand
+audacity. He was calm and temperate in words and actions, and
+mercilessly just in exacting obedience from the turbulent spirits who
+linked their fortunes with his. He lacked worldly wisdom; nothing could
+induce him to forego the least of his rights to gain a greater ultimate
+advantage. He would maintain the dignity of his office, though it cost
+him the office itself. The lawyer belittled the lawgiver in his attempt
+virtually to confiscate the lands of Nicaragua by the help of an
+unworthy legal device; while his design for the restoration of slavery
+was as impolitic as it was futile, unjust, and barbarous. The action
+was, doubtless, the result of an honest belief in that "divine
+institution," as well as of a desire to show his sympathy with his
+devoted friends in the United States; but the effect was only to put
+another weapon into the hands of his foreign enemies, without
+materially strengthening him at home. It was a defiance to his powerful
+British opponents, and a wanton outrage upon the free states of Central
+America, alienating the sympathies of all who hoped from the evil of
+conquest to extract the good of civilization. Judged, as he wished to
+be judged, by his public policy, Walker was unequal to the office of a
+Liberator. It would be unfair to criticize the domestic administration
+of one who held his office by the sword, yet it is true that he
+preserved order and enforced justice with more success than any ruler
+of Nicaragua who has filled the position since the independence of the
+country. Doctor Scherzer, the intelligent German traveller, writing at
+a time when Walker's success seemed assured, heartily rejoices in the
+new and grand career opening before Central America. He warmly commends
+Walker's administration of justice, without palliating his errors, and
+sees "the morning star of civilization rising in the Tropic sky."
+
+Walker was humane in war, and allowed retaliatory measures to be
+taken against the Costa Ricans only after the latter had shamelessly
+abused his lenity by repeated massacres of defenceless prisoners and
+non-combatants. The tales of his cruelty to his men have uniformly
+proceeded from the lips of worthless and disgraced adventurers,
+who were mainly deserters. Had he been the cold and haughty tyrant
+painted by his enemies, the infatuated devotion of his followers is
+unaccountable by any human rule. Neither ambition nor recklessness
+can explain the conduct of men who followed him through life, with
+unswerving loyalty. "Private Charles Brogan" is recorded among the
+surrendering men at the end of the Sonora campaign. As "Private Brogan"
+his name figures among the _Vesta's_ passengers. So again, it appears
+on the army register and in the lists of wounded, all through the
+Nicaraguan campaign. Yet again, in 1857, when the second descent on
+Nicaragua ended ingloriously at San Juan del Norte, "Private Charles
+Brogan" heads the list of captured rank and file. Did he see his chief
+perish bravely at Trujillo? or had he himself gone before and escaped
+the tragic sight? This chronicler knows not, and history, alas! has
+forgotten greater men than the poor follower of the half-forgotten
+filibuster. All honour here to thee, Private Charles Brogan, whom no
+vision of fame or fortune tempted to serve so loyally and long the
+ill-starred chieftain of a contraband cause!
+
+The truth is, Walker's attitude towards his officers of high rank was
+one of studied formality, which the necessities of his position made
+imperative. Familiarity in his intercourse with such volunteers would
+have been death to discipline. But towards his humbler followers he
+showed the kindness and consideration of a friend, and won their
+respect by sharing their dangers. "I have known him," says Henningsen,
+"to get up from a sick bed, ride forty miles to fight the Costa Ricans,
+whipping soundly a force of thrice his numbers, and then, after giving
+his horse to a wounded soldier, tramp back his forty miles, without, as
+the boys used to say, 'taking the starch out of his shirt collar.'" The
+men who did their duty spoke well of him always; but it was, of
+necessity, the knaves and cowards, mainly, who survived such bloody
+campaigns, and returned to defame their comrades. Few even of these
+accused him of selfishness, save in his ambition. For money he cared
+nothing; and the soldiers of fortune complained of hard fighting and no
+pillage.
+
+He had a certain grim sense of humour, which finds occasional
+expression in the pages of his book. Of Guardiola's attempt to fire
+the hearts of his men by plying them with _aguardiente_ before an
+engagement, in which they were ignominiously routed, he says: "The
+empty demijohns which were picked up on the road after the action
+looked like huge cannon-balls that had missed their mark." There is
+wisdom as well as humour in his remark, that "the best manner of
+treating a revolutionary movement in Central America is to treat it as
+a boil; let it come to a head, and then lance it, letting all the bad
+matter out at once." The pompous pretence of his native friends and
+enemies amused the shrewd judge of men, who possessed a happy knack of
+epitomizing a character in a single phrase, as when he calls the
+native custom of indiscriminate conscription, "an inveterate habit of
+catching a man and tying him up with a musket in his hand, to make a
+soldier of him." Kinney "had acquired that sort of knowledge and
+experience of human nature to be derived from the exercise of the mule
+trade." He mentions his enemy Marcy only with a contemptuous allusion
+to the blunder of that statesman in referring to Nicaragua as a
+country of South America, and dismisses Mora from his notice with the
+qualified clemency: "Let us pass Mora in exile, as Ugolino in hell,
+afar off and with silence."
+
+His sense of the ridiculous was too keen to allow him ever to depart
+from the rigid simplicity of manner and dress which was in such
+striking contrast with the gaudy attire and pompous demeanour of his
+native friends. His uniform consisted of a blue coat, dark pantaloons,
+and black felt hat with the red ribbon of the Democratic army; his
+weapons were a sword and pistols buckled in his belt, and these he
+carried only in battle, where they were rather for use than ornament.
+
+His character is in many respects like that of Cortez. Both were
+unlicensed conquerors; both were served by volunteers; served well by
+the faithful and brave, and obeyed through fear by the knavish and
+cowardly. Bodily fatigue or danger had no terrors for either, nor were
+they chary of demanding equal courage and endurance from their
+followers. Cortez triumphed over his enemies in the field; but barely
+succeeded in defeating the machinations of his foes in the Spanish
+Cabinet. Had Walker been a Conquistador he would have conquered Mexico
+as Cortez did. Had Cortez been a Californian filibuster he might have
+conquered Nicaragua, but he would assuredly have succumbed to Marcy and
+Vanderbilt.
+
+Unquestionably Walker was carried away by his firm belief in his
+destiny. He never doubted, until he felt the manacles on his wrists at
+Trujillo, that he was destined to play the part of a Cortez in Central
+America. He had risked death a hundred times in battle and skirmish
+without fear or doubt. Possibly he welcomed it, when at last it came,
+and was sincere in hoping that it might be for the good of society.
+
+So died, in his thirty-seventh year, the man whose fame had filled two
+continents, who had more than once imperilled the peace of the world
+which remembers him only in the distorted and false character of a
+monster and an outlaw. The country which gave him birth, and little
+besides, save injustice, forgot amid the bloody conflict into which it
+was soon plunged, the fame and fate of the filibusters. Into the vortex
+of civil war were swept many of the restless spirits who had survived
+the sanguinary fields of Central America, and in it perished some of
+the bravest and ablest who had learned their first lesson in that stern
+school.
+
+As most of them were of Southern birth, so they generally joined the
+ranks of the Confederacy. At the first call to arms, Henningsen offered
+his services to the seceding states, and was given a regiment in Wise's
+Legion of Northern Virginia. Frank Anderson went with him as
+lieutenant-colonel, and did good service for the lost cause. He was one
+of Walker's oldest veterans, having served in both the expeditions to
+Nicaragua. At the first battle of Rivas he was wounded three times, and
+left on the field for dead, but managed to drag himself into hiding
+before his comrades were all massacred, and so escaped to rejoin his
+command.
+
+Henningsen served throughout the war; but, in spite of his experience
+on many fields, and the marked ability with which he filled his
+subordinate position, he never rose to distinction in the Confederacy.
+He was a natural leader in irregular warfare, as might have been
+expected of a pupil in the schools of Zumalacarregui, Schamyl, and
+Walker; and the scientific campaigning of the Peninsula gave no scope
+for his talents. But he had espoused the cause with honest convictions
+of its justice, and he supported it faithfully to the end. When that
+end and ruin came he returned to private life, a man without a career,
+and lived quietly and unobtrusively until his death in June, 1877. In
+his later years he was a devoted adherent of the patriots who were
+waging a fruitless war for freedom in Cuba. Once he visited the island
+in connection with a projected uprising, but saw no promise of success
+in the attempt. His death was sudden. He had been ill but a few days; a
+faithful friend, Colonel Gregg, a soldier who had fought against him in
+the Civil War, watched by his bedside. The sick man slept, while the
+tireless brain dreamed, what dreams who can say? of the chequered
+career about to close forever. Suddenly his eyes opened, and in them
+was something of the old fire, as he half sat up in his bed, and
+pointing to a print on the wall of the arms of "Cuba Libre," said,
+"Colonel, we'll free Cuba yet!" The ruling passion found voice in his
+last words--the next instant he fell back dead.
+
+Henningsen was considered to have been the military genius of the
+Nicaraguan campaign by the detractors of Walker, who could not deny the
+wonderful success of the latter. But Henningsen himself always
+repudiated the undeserved fame, and was foremost in awarding to his
+chieftain whatever of glory was won in that profitless field. He died
+as he had lived, a true, simple-hearted gentleman, a knight-errant born
+centuries too late. Colonel John T. Pickett, a kindly philosopher, and
+one who in his heyday followed a filibuster's luckless banner, has
+engraved upon the tomb of Henningsen the apt motto from Gil Blas:
+"_Inveni portum. Spes et fortuna valete! Sat me lusistis.... Ludite
+nunc alios._"
+
+The filibusters whom the winds had blown from every quarter of the
+earth to the sunny vales of Nicaragua were drifted back, when the storm
+had broken and spent its fury, to the world of peace and prose. A few
+only of the worthier survive to recall that strange page in life's
+romance. Rudler, who was with his leader in all his campaigns, and who
+was sentenced to four years' imprisonment after the surrender in
+Honduras, returned to share the fortunes of the seceding South, as did
+also Wheat, Hicks, Fayssoux, Hornsby, and many others. In the
+vicissitudes of American life a few, like Doubleday and Kewen, even
+achieved wealth, which is perhaps as strange a climax to the career of
+a filibuster as any that could be conceived. The two O'Neils were men
+of invincible courage. Both died in battle, Cal, the younger, at the
+age of twenty-one, after making a reputation for heroism that was
+marked even among that valiant group. Reluctantly we part with the wild
+band, Homeric heroes in more features than one; with Henry and Swingle,
+the inventive gunners, Von Natzmer, the Prussian hussar, Pineda, the
+great-hearted native of an unworthy country, Hornsby, Rawle, Watters,
+and the Fifty-six who were "Immortal" for a day.
+
+That most entertaining cosmopolitan, Laurence Oliphant, came very near
+adding the distinction of being a filibuster to his other experiences.
+He did, in fact, join an expedition which set out from New Orleans in
+December, 1856, for San Juan del Norte, with the intention of
+reinforcing Walker at Rivas. But the good steamer _Texas_ reached
+her destination too late, Spencer and his Costa Ricans having closed
+the Transit. Among the adventurous spirits in the company was one who
+had taken part in the last ill-fated expedition of Lopez to Cuba, and
+spent a year and a half in a Spanish dungeon. "The story of his escape
+from a more serious fate," says Oliphant, "was characteristic of many
+other stirring narratives of a similar description, with which on
+moonlight nights we used to beguile the evening hours." He had served as
+an officer on General Lopez's staff during one of the expeditions to
+Cuba. When that officer, together with many of the more prominent
+members of the expedition, after a desperate resistance, was captured
+by the Spanish troops, my friend, who was one of the number, found
+himself with many of his countrymen thrown into the Havanna jail, and
+informed that he was to prepare for his execution on the following day.
+As an act of grace, however, permission was given to all the captives
+to indite a farewell letter to their friends, informing them of their
+approaching execution. Most of his fellow-victims could think of some
+one belonging to them to whom such a piece of information might prove
+interesting; but the poor captain racked in vain the chambers of his
+memory for a solitary individual to whom he could impart the melancholy
+tidings without feeling that his communication would be what in polite
+society would be called an 'unwarrantable intrusion of his personal
+affairs upon a comparative stranger.' He could think of nobody that
+cared about him; revolving this forlorn state of matters in his mind,
+ashamed to form the only exception to the general scribbling that was
+taking place, he determined to choose a friend, and then it flashed
+upon him, that as all the letters would probably be opened, he had
+better choose a good one. Under his present circumstances, who more
+appropriate than the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs at
+Washington, then Daniel Webster? Not only should he make a friend of
+him, but an intimate friend, and then the Spanish Governor might shoot
+him if he chose, and take the risk. He accordingly commenced:
+
+"Dan, my dear old boy, how little you thought when we parted at the
+close of that last agreeable visit of a week, which I paid you the
+other day, that within a month I should be "cribbed, cabined, and
+confined" in the infernal hole of a dungeon from which I indite this. I
+wish you would send the Spanish minister a case of that very old
+Madeira of yours, which he professes to prefer to the wines of his own
+country, and tell him the silly scrape I have got myself into, if
+indeed it be not too late, for they talk of sending me to "the bourne"
+to-morrow. However, one never can believe a word these rascals say, so
+I write this in the hope that they are lying as usual,--and am, my dear
+old school-mate, your affectionate friend, ----.' For once the absence
+of friends proved a real blessing. Had the captain been occupied by
+domestic considerations, he never would have invented so valuable an
+ally as was thus extemporised, and he was rewarded for his shrewd
+device on the following morning, by finding himself the only solitary
+individual of all the party allowed to 'stand over.' In a couple of
+hours Lopez and his companions had gone to the bourne, to which our
+captain so feelingly alluded; and when, at last, the trick was
+discovered, the crisis was past, and the Spanish Government finally
+condemned him to two years' confinement in chains in the dungeon at
+Ceuta, which was afterwards commuted to eighteen months. He had just
+returned from this dismal abode in time once more to gratify the
+adventurous propensities which had already so nearly cost him his life;
+and it is due to him to say, that even the daring and reckless spirits
+by whom he was surrounded, agreed in saying that he placed an unusually
+low estimate on that valuable possession."
+
+There is little to add to the history of filibusterism, which may be
+ranked among the dead industries or the lost arts, just as one chooses
+to regard it. Contrary to the predictions of the prophets, the
+disbandment of a million of men at the end of the American Civil War
+was effected without trouble. The European Powers breathed more freely
+when it was accomplished, satisfied that the aggressive "Yankee" was
+not so grasping as he had been painted. Maximilian of Mexico slept
+peacefully, and his late unruly subjects renewed their fraternal
+quarrels, undisturbed by interference from abroad, and finally settled
+into uninteresting peace and prosperity. Filibusterism died because, in
+sooth, it had no longer a reason for being. To "extend the area" of an
+abolished slavery were as paradoxical as Quixotic. Nevertheless, the
+peculiar institution chanced to prove the cause of yet one final,
+fallacious, and ghastly episode.
+
+Cuba, once coveted as an ally by the slaveholders of the United States,
+was now the only spot on the civilized globe afflicted with the
+barbarous stain. The "ever-faithful isle" was trebly cursed with
+slavery, foreign rule, and martial law. Like a spendthrift come to his
+last penny, Spain, having squandered a continent, clung with tenacity
+to its remaining possession in the Western world. Thrones were set up
+and knocked down at home, republics were born and strangled, but no
+change for the better was ever felt in the wretched colony. Rather, it
+suffered from every change, since each involved a change of masters.
+Hungry, avaricious masters they were, spurred on by the uncertain
+tenure of their office, to reap as rich plunder as might be got out of
+the hapless colony, ere a new turn of the cards at home should force
+them to make room for other needy patriots. The power of the
+Captain-General is almost absolute at the best of times. In such times
+as those it is well-nigh omnipotent. The colony was denied
+representation in the Cortes, while taxed beyond endurance to support
+the government, and robbed by an army of officials appointed to rule
+over her without her consent or choice.
+
+Cuba at last rebelled. The planters who found themselves robbed of the
+fruits of their industry as fast as they were gathered, and who saw the
+system of slavery develop into the most intolerable of all wrongs, the
+wrong unprofitable, at last determined to strike for their liberty.
+They freed and armed their slaves. They burned their plantations, and
+in September, 1868, hoisted the lone star flag in the mountains and
+bade defiance to the Spaniard. The leading insurgents were all men of
+wealth and influence, while their followers were necessarily ignorant
+and undisciplined. But success meant freedom to both classes; and they
+threw themselves into the unequal struggle with sublime desperation.
+All, or mostly all, of the leaders perished during the long and bloody
+contest, which ended only after it had lasted eight years, at a cost to
+Spain of two hundred thousand lives and over seven hundred million
+dollars. The figures are those of Governor-General Don Joaquin
+Javellar.
+
+The Junta of Cuban patriots in New York sent out several cargoes of war
+material, and enlisted many American adventurers; but no regular
+expedition was at any time organized. Among those who participated in
+the guerilla conflict were Domingo de Goicouria, once Minister of
+Hacienda in Nicaragua, and Colonel Jack Allen, also not unknown to
+filibuster fame.
+
+The culminating tragedy came to pass in October, 1873. On the 23rd of
+that month, the steamer _Virginius_, a former blockade-runner, cleared
+from Kingston, Jamaica, for Port Limon, Costa Rica, with passengers to
+the number of a hundred or more. Her true destination was the island of
+Cuba, her mission the transportation of arms and filibusters. Among the
+passengers were the patriot leaders, Cespedes, Ryan, Varona, and Del
+Sol. The steamer touched at Port au Prince, received her cargo of arms,
+ammunition, medicines, and equipments, and made sail for Cuba. She was
+seen and chased by the Spanish gunboat _Tornado_, which, by a curious
+coincidence, was also a former blockade-runner and a sister ship of the
+_Virginius_--a favoured sister, since she speedily overhauled and
+captured her prey.
+
+The _Virginius_, though flying the American flag on the high seas,
+was made a prize and carried into the port of Santiago de Cuba. Captain
+Fry, her commander, an American citizen and former officer in the
+United States and Confederate navies, protested in vain against the
+outrage. He was denied communication with his consul, and thrown into
+prison, with all his passengers and crew. The four insurgent leaders
+were first tried by summary court martial on board of the _Tornado_,
+before General Buriel, Governor of the province, and sentenced to
+death. The sentence was promptly executed, at sunrise on the 4th of
+November, five days after the capture, before the walls of the
+Slaughter House, infamous in the annals of Cuba for over thirty years.
+It lies in the suburbs, about half a mile from the main wharf and on
+the edge of a swampy tract, beyond which are the sluggish waters of the
+bay and the blue, barren mountains, dark, desolate and forbidding. Some
+squalid huts are scattered along the sides of the road. The vegetation
+is scanty and the stunted palm trees are few and far between. The four
+walls of the Slaughter House grounds are each about 400 feet long and
+twelve or thirteen feet high, built of brick covered with stucco. The
+front gate is a rather pretentious work with ornamental pillars and
+strong iron pickets. Between it and the extreme left, as you face the
+structure, is the place set apart for executions. It bears to-day this
+inscription, surmounted by the Lone Star and two crossed palm-branches,
+with, on one side, "1868," and on the other, "1898":
+
+    _Tu que paseas descubrete; este lugar es tierra con segrada.
+    Durante treinte años benedicida ha sido con sangre de Patriotas
+    immolados por la tirania._
+
+    "Thou who passest by, uncover; this spot is consecrated ground.
+    During thirty years it has been hallowed with the blood of Patriots
+    immolated by tyranny."
+
+Ryan and Varona refused to kneel, and were shot as they stood. The
+heads of the four were cut off and carried on pikes through the city
+and before the windows of the prison, where their comrades lay awaiting
+a similar fate. Cespedes was the son of a patriot who had died for Cuba
+Libre. Varona, a chivalrous commander, had given freedom to fifteen
+Spanish officers captured in battle, and those fifteen, to their credit
+be it said, pleaded, though in vain, for clemency to him when he fell
+into the hands of Buriel. Del Sol was a brave young man with a wife and
+children. Ryan, Canadian born, was a daring adventurer. He had saved
+eight persons from drowning, a short time before, and leaped into the
+sea and saved one more on the day of the ship's departure. Santa Rosa,
+who was shot with the next batch of victims, had fought beside Lopez in
+1851 and was one of the thirteen who raised the banner of revolt in
+1868. He was imprisoned but escaped to renew the struggle, and died at
+last, after twenty years of strenuous endeavor for the freedom of his
+country, leaving the reputation: "He was very brave and very eccentric;
+of violent temper, but good-hearted and very devout. He never went into
+battle without praying for the souls of the Spaniards who might be
+slain."
+
+The news of the tragedy had been carried to the United States, and the
+American and English consuls interested themselves to protect the
+remaining prisoners; but the sham trials went on in spite of their
+protests. Here in the face of death came out all the manliness, the
+tenderness, the unselfishness, and the simple piety of the brave Fry.
+For himself he expected no mercy and asked for none. He made his formal
+protest against the seizure of his ship on the high seas and the unfair
+trial by which he and his men had been condemned; but it was for them
+alone that he besought mercy. To General Buriel, the Spanish Governor,
+he wrote, saying:
+
+    "Running the blockade is considered a risky business among sailors,
+    for which good pay is received. It is notorious that a great number
+    of vessels were employed in it during the American war, and,
+    although captures were numerous, not a single life was lost; the
+    greater part of the prisoners were set at liberty after a short
+    imprisonment. I never heard a word before the night of my sentence,
+    of Cuban law and the proclamation relative to an attempt to
+    introduce arms into Cuba. If, with superior opportunities, I was
+    ignorant that the case could be decided by another law than the
+    international, how complete may have been the ignorance of these
+    poor people! I was continually in the company of people who ought
+    to have known it, and not one alluded to the fact. In a word, I
+    believe it is not known, and that the world will be painfully
+    surprised on learning the sacrifice of these lives.
+
+    "The Consul knows well that I am not pleading for my own life. I
+    have not prayed to God for it, nor even to the Blessed Mother. I
+    have neither home nor country--a victim of war and persecution, the
+    avenues to the securing of property being closed to me to such a
+    point that I have not been able to provide bread for my wife and
+    seven children, who know what it is to suffer for the necessaries
+    of life. My life is one of suffering, and I look upon what has
+    happened to me as a benefit of God, and it is not for me,
+    therefore, to ask favors of anyone.
+
+    "The engineer, Knight, I know, came contrary to his will. He was
+    bitterly opposed to it, as I learn from the person who obtained him
+    to come.
+
+    "Spaniards, the world is not so full of people who prefer honor to
+    life. Save poor Santa Rosa! Poor gentleman, with heart as tender
+    and as compassionate as that of a woman, of irreproachable honor,
+    his business was that of charity. He was devoted to others, and
+    though he was aboard the vessel for the benefit of their health, I
+    believe he will not use this advantage for himself....
+
+    "The greater portion of the crew were entrapped by their lodging
+    house keepers, who gained possession of them, and watched the
+    opportunity to put them on board on receiving advances on their
+    wages.
+
+    "Spaniards, I believe I am the only one who dies in the entire
+    Christian faith of our holy religion. Consider the souls of these
+    poor people; give them an opportunity to ask mercy of God. I know
+    that you must fulfil your duty, but my blood ought to be
+    sufficient, because innocent and defenceless people will suffer
+    with my fall.
+
+    "May these considerations have influence with the authorities to
+    whom I beg to appeal! These poor people had no knowledge of what
+    you think their crime. Pardon me if I say that I don't believe
+    their deaths would have on the fate of Cuba the good effect the law
+    foresees--our civilization is so opposed to such proceeding. I
+    don't say this in tone of complaint, but we are accustomed to at
+    least identify victims when we are going to sacrifice.
+
+    "According to my view, there should have been some intervention.
+    Our Government, by its influence, should have been pronounced, and
+    perhaps in that way their lives might have been saved without
+    compromising the dignity of Spain.
+
+    "Señores, farewell. I know that the members of the council who
+    condemn me accomplish a painful duty. Let them remember us in their
+    prayers to God, and ask their wives and children to do the same for
+    us. Respectfully,
+
+    "JOSEPH FRY.
+
+    "Written on board the _Tornado_, Nov. 7, 1873."
+
+At six o'clock on the morning of November 7, Captain Fry and thirty-six
+of his crew and twelve passengers were brutally butchered in the
+presence of a ferocious mob, who mangled the senseless remains.
+
+There still survived ninety-three unfortunates. By this time the
+telegraph had spread the terrible news throughout the world, and
+awakened a tempest of indignation everywhere save in Havanna and
+Madrid. Even in Spain, at the time enjoying a government nominally
+republican, there was some surprise at the horrible tragedy, and Señor
+Castelar, his humanity spurred up by a peremptory despatch from the
+English Foreign Office, was moved to beseech of his lieutenant to be a
+little less hasty in his action. The appeal was unheeded, and all of
+the hapless victims were condemned to immediate execution. But General
+Buriel had made an epicure's mistake in prolonging his feast.
+
+There was no American vessel of war in the neighbourhood of Santiago de
+Cuba, but, what was more to the purpose, as far as the fate of the
+prisoners was concerned, there was the inevitable British man-of-war
+within a day's sail. The sloop _Niobe_ lay in the harbour of Kingston,
+with half of her crew on shore liberty, when the news of the massacre
+reached her commander, Sir Lambton Loraine. He sailed at once for
+Santiago. An English captain does not need instructions in such an
+emergency. He has standing orders and can trust to his nation for
+support of his acts. "I am an English subject," said Thompson, a sailor
+of the _Virginius_, "and they won't dare lay hands on me." He knew his
+countrymen, but he mistook the Spaniard.
+
+He and fifteen compatriots were among the murdered fifty-three.
+
+Then did the hearts of other British subjects and American citizens
+fail them as they awaited their doom. The Americans had long abandoned
+hope. The English were giving way to despair, when a glad sight met
+their eyes. It was the _Niobe_ entering the harbour, with the cross of
+St. George flying at her peak. She did not stop to salute the fort, but
+gracefully rounded to, a few cables' lengths from the _Tornado_ and her
+prize, with port-holes open and her crew at quarters. Ere her anchor
+fell, the captain's gig was in the water, and soon its oars were
+flashing spray as it sped shoreward. In the stern sheets sat the young
+commander.
+
+His veto of the massacres was delivered not a moment too soon. Buriel
+demurred, questioning the Englishman's right to interfere. Loraine
+insisted on the right, claiming that there were British subjects among
+the prisoners. To the Spaniard's denial of that fact, he answered that
+he would take upon himself, then, the responsibility of protecting
+American citizens, in the absence of their own defenders. The delicate
+points of this officious interference, Señor Buriel might have debated,
+long and ingeniously, with a different kind of adversary. But the
+English sailor was no casuist. His arguments were brutally direct.
+"Stop the murders, or I bombard your town," they said in so many words.
+Indeed, he was a very rash and impulsive young man. Under a free
+government he would have been cashiered, without benefit of clergy.
+Only a few months before, so the rumour went, he had fired hot shot and
+shell into the town of Omoa, Honduras; and there was no guessing what
+he might not be tempted to do with Santiago, upon such very strong
+provocation. Extreme measures were averted, however, by Buriel's
+consenting to reprieve his prisoners.
+
+Then arose the question of reparation. Minister Sickles at Madrid took
+high and dignified ground, insisting upon the fullest apology for the
+insult offered to his country's flag, and indemnity to the families of
+the murdered men. Castelar assented to a treaty covering every demand
+of Mr. Sickles, and was about to sign it formally, when he received
+advices from Washington which made him retract his concession, and made
+General Sickles telegraph his resignation. It appeared that the Spanish
+minister at Washington had proved himself a skilful diplomat by
+negotiating with the American Secretary of State a protocol, the terms
+of which were as extraordinary as the secret manner in which they were
+drawn up.
+
+By this arrangement, which settled the question for ever, the United
+States waived its demands for a salute to the insulted flag, accepting
+a formal apology instead, waived the question of indemnity, and did not
+press for the punishment of the guilty officials of Santiago. What the
+Government did demand and obtain, it would be hard to say. The only
+visible reparation was the conditional surrender of the captured
+vessel, for trial before an American court of admiralty. Should it
+transpire that she had been in lawful possession of her American
+register, then she was to be given to her owners; if otherwise, she was
+to be restored to her captors. Strangely enough, there was no provision
+made in the latter contingency for the rendition and punishment of the
+survivors. All possible dispute on that point was happily averted by
+the inscrutable catastrophe which befell the luckless craft. She
+foundered, opportunely, in a gale off Cape Fear on her voyage to the
+United States, to the great relief of two governments.
+
+There was much indignation in the United States over the awful tragedy
+and accompanying insult to the national flag. A vast amount of money
+was expended on the navy, and certain commanders were ordered to review
+their forces and manoeuvre their squadrons almost in sight of the
+Cuban shores. Warlike talk was in the air; but the sober second thought
+of the people was averse to a war in defence of the insulted banner,
+when it had been used to shelter adventurers in an illegal undertaking.
+The American is slow to be angered, and has none of the Englishman's
+sentimental reverence for bunting, unless it covers a clearly just
+cause. Sir Lambton was speedily promoted by his Government. Somebody in
+the American Congress proposed a resolution of thanks to him also, but
+it was promptly tabled, with a perception of the fitness of things
+hardly to have been expected in that sagacious body. More fitting and
+spontaneous was the gift sent to him by the miners of far Nevada, a
+fourteen-pound silver brick, emblematic of the highest expression of
+eulogy.
+
+_The Virginius_ tragedy, and the indifference with which it was
+beheld by the American Government, were sufficient warnings, had any
+been needed, to the Filibuster, that his day was past. In unmistakable
+language he was told that his country's flag should not and would not
+shield him in the violation of international law. Theoretically the
+execution of the _Virginius_ adventurers was as much of an outrage
+on the dignity of the United States as if it had occurred on American
+soil. Practically, the delicate points of flag and register and
+high-seas neutrality were dismissed from consideration, and the
+evidently hostile mission of the vessel was held to excuse the severe
+punishment meted out to her passengers. Whether or not the lesson may
+be heeded when the example shall have grown old, it is plain that for
+the present at least, the race of filibusters is extinct. Although the
+Cuban insurrection broke out again five years later and several cargoes
+of war munitions were landed on the island during the months preceding
+the American invasion, there were no filibustering expeditions on a
+large scale from the United States or any other country.
+
+The nearest approach to genuine filibusterism in recent years was the
+raid of Dr. Jameson and some eight hundred adventurers on the
+Transvaal, on New Year's Day, 1896. It was badly planned and conducted
+without any show of skill or courage. The raiders were entrapped and
+surrendered almost without firing a shot. The Boer authorities, with
+more magnanimity than wisdom, pardoned the demoralized rank and file,
+permitted the civilian leaders to go free after a brief imprisonment
+and the exaction of a fine, and delivered "Dr. Jim" and his military
+associates over to the English for trial. They were found guilty and
+subjected to a nominal imprisonment of a few months, as "first-class
+misdemeanants." Four years later the English forces were in the Boer
+capital and Dr. Jameson as a member of the Cape Colony parliament, was
+passing judgment on the Dutch burghers as "rebels" against the British
+Empire! The career of the Filibuster is no longer open to private
+individuals. The great powers have monopolized the business, conducting
+it as such and stripping it of its last poor remnant of romance,
+without investing it with a scrap of improved morality.
+
+The Filibusters were a virile race, with virtues and vices of generous
+growth. They played no mean part on the world's stage, albeit a part
+often wayward and mistaken. They were American dreamers. Had they been
+Greeks or Norsemen, or free to roam the world in the days of Cortez,
+Balboa, and Pizarro, victors like them, History would have dealt more
+kindly by them. As it is, spite of faults and failures, they do not
+deserve the harshest of all fates, oblivion.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+A Romance of the Iowa Wheat Fields.
+
+THE ROAD TO RIDGEBY'S.
+
+BY FRANK BURLINGAME HARRIS.
+
+    12mo., cloth, decorative.        ~$1.50~
+
+
+A simple but powerful story of farm life in the great West, which
+cannot fail to make a lasting impression on every reader. In this book
+Mr. Harris has done for the wheat fields what Mr. Westcott has done for
+rural New York and Mr. Bacheller for the North country. It is in no way
+imitative of _David Harum_ or _Eben Holden_; and, unlike each of these
+books, it is not in the portrayal of a single quaint character that its
+power consists. Mr. Harris has taken for his story a typical Iowa
+farmer's family and their neighbours; and, although every one of the
+characters is realistically portrayed, the sense of proportion is never
+lost sight of, and the result is a picture of real life, artistic in
+the highest sense, as being true to nature. It is a wholesome story,
+full of the real heroism of homely life, a book to make the reader
+better by strengthening his belief in the truth of self-sacrifice and
+the survival of sturdy American character.
+
+
+MONONIA. A Love Story of '48,
+
+BY JUSTIN McCARTHY, M.P.,
+
+Author of _A History of Our Own Times_, _Dear Lady Disdain_, etc.
+
+    12mo, green cloth and gold.        ~$1.50~
+
+
+Mr. McCarthy has written several successful novels; but none, perhaps,
+will have greater interest for his American readers than this volume,
+in which he writes reminiscently of the Ireland of his youth and the
+stirring events which marked that period.
+
+It is pre-eminently an old-fashioned novel, befitting the times which
+it describes, and written with the delicate touch of sentiment
+characteristic of Mr. McCarthy's fiction. The book takes its name from
+the heroine, a charming type of the gentle-born Irishwoman. In the
+development of the romance, the attempts for Ireland's freedom, and the
+dire failures that culminated at Ballingary are told in a manner which
+will give an intimate insight into the history of the _Young Ireland_
+movement. If the book cannot be considered autobiographical, the reader
+will not forget that the author was contemporary with the events
+described, and will have little difficulty in perceiving that many of
+the principal characters are strongly suggestive of the Irish leaders
+of that day, which gives the book scarcely less value than an avowed
+autobiography.
+
+
+FOR SALE BY ALL BOOKSELLERS, OR SENT, POSTPAID, BY THE PUBLISHERS
+ON RECEIPT OF PRICE.
+
+    Small, Maynard & Company,
+    PIERCE BUILDING
+    COPLEY SQ., BOSTON
+
+
+
+
+_Two Notable Novels by Emma Rayner._
+
+VISITING THE SIN
+
+A Tale of Mountain Life in Kentucky and Tennessee.
+
+    12mo, cloth, with cover designed by T. W. Ball. 448 pages.
+    ~$1.50~
+
+
+The struggle between the heroine's love and her determination to visit
+the sin upon the son of the supposed murderer of her father forms the
+basis of the story. All of the characters are vividly drawn, and the
+action of the story is wonderfully dramatic and lifelike. The period is
+about 1875.
+
+    "A powerful, well-sustained story, the interest in which does not
+    flag from the first chapter to the last."--_Philadelphia North
+    American._
+
+    "Unusually powerful. The dramatic plot is intricate, but not
+    obscure."--_The Congregationalist._
+
+    "A graphic and readable piece of fiction, which will stand with
+    the best of its time concerning humble American characters."--
+    _Providence Journal._
+
+    "Far ahead of most of these latter-day Southern novels."--_Southern
+    Star._
+
+    "The people in the story are persistently real."--_Christian
+    Advocate._
+
+
+FREE TO SERVE
+
+A Tale of Colonial New York.
+
+12mo, cloth, with a cover designed by Maxfield Parrish.
+
+    434 pages.        ~$1.50~
+
+
+    "One of the very best stories of the Colonial period yet
+    written."--_Philadelphia Bulletin._
+
+    "We have here a thorough-going romance of American life in the
+    first days of the eighteenth century. It is a story written for the
+    story's sake, and right well written, too. Indians, Dutch,
+    Frenchmen, Puritans, all play a part. The scenes are vivid, the
+    incidents novel and many."--_The Independent._
+
+    "The writing is cleverly done, and the old-fashioned atmosphere of
+    old Knickerbocker days is reproduced with such a touch of verity as
+    to seem an actual chronicle recorded by one who lived in those
+    days."--_Saturday Evening Post_, Philadelphia.
+
+    "The supreme test of a long book is the reading of it, and when one
+    reaches the end of Free to Serve, he acknowledges freely that it is
+    the best book that he has taken up for a long time."--_Boston
+    Herald._
+
+
+For sale by all booksellers, or sent, postpaid, by the publishers on
+receipt of price.
+
+    Small, Maynard & Company,
+    PIERCE BUILDING
+    COPLEY SQ., BOSTON
+
+
+
+
+Two Remarkable Volumes of Stories.
+
+ANTING-ANTING STORIES,
+
+And Other Strange Tales of the Filipinos.
+
+BY SARGENT KAYME.
+
+With cover design by WILLIAM MATHER CROCKER.
+
+    12mo., cloth.        ~$1.25~
+
+
+The sub-title to this volume gives a suggestion of the nature of the
+stories of which it is composed, but no title can give an adequate idea
+of their wonderful variety and charm. It is hardly exaggeration to say
+that Mr. Kayme's treatment of the life of the Filipinos opens to our
+literature a new field, almost as fresh and as original as did Mr.
+Kipling's Indian Stories when they first appeared. Like Mr. Kipling, he
+shows his perfect familiarity with the country and people he describes;
+and he knows how to tell a good story straight away and simply without
+any sacrifice of dramatic effect or power.
+
+The curious title to the volume furnishes the motive for some of the
+most striking of the stories. _Anting-Anting_ is a Filipino word, used
+to denote anything worn as an amulet, with a supposed power to protect
+the life of the wearer. Often a thing of no intrinsic value, the belief
+in its efficacy is yet so real that its owner often braves death with a
+confidence so sublime as to command admiration, if not respect.
+
+
+WHEN EVE WAS NOT CREATED,
+
+And Other Stories.
+
+BY HERVEY WHITE, author of _Differences_ and _Quicksand_
+
+    12mo., cloth, with a cover design by MARION L. PEABODY.
+
+    ~$1.25~
+
+Remarkable stories of a type and style of subjective symbolism
+altogether new to American literature. In the title story Svend,
+as a type expressive of the suppression of the artistic sense in
+love, where, the eye being satisfied with the object, the heart, the
+soul, the mind of the man, yet goes hungry and unsatisfied, will fix
+himself in the reader's mind as one of the strongest characters of
+fiction. The other stories are scarcely less noteworthy, and the
+book as a whole will add greatly to the author's already high
+reputation as a writer.
+
+
+For sale by all booksellers, or sent, postpaid, by the publishers on
+receipt of price.
+
+    Small, Maynard & Company,
+    PIERCE BUILDING
+    COPLEY SQ., BOSTON
+
+
+
+
+A Remarkable Study of Social Life in America.
+
+DIFFERENCES
+
+BY HERVEY WHITE.
+
+    12mo, cloth, decorative, 320 pages.        ~$1.50~
+
+
+"It is treating the poor as a class and employing any method of
+handling them that I object to.... Why can't they be treated as
+individuals, the same as other people? What would the rich think of my
+impertinence if I went about the world treating them in a peculiar
+manner,--as if they were not real people, at all, but only 'the rich,'
+in my knowledge?"--Hester Carr, in _Differences_.
+
+    "_Differences_ is an extraordinary book.... The labor question is
+    its primary concern, and the caste barrier which modern conditions
+    have erected between the man who works and the man who merely
+    lives. This is no new theme, yet _Differences_ is new, and its
+    place in thoughtful literature awaits it. The only argument
+    presented by Mr. White is contained in the picture he spreads
+    before us. It is real, and set out with bold, firm strokes, and
+    there is no attempt to be merely artistic. Genevieve Radcliffe, the
+    rich society girl, who goes to work charity with the poor, and John
+    Wade, the workman, whose situation involves all the tragedy of
+    metropolitan poverty, are human, if they be not typical. They
+    embody the 'differences,' and, if they do not point the way to
+    equality, it is because American civilization is not yet ripe for
+    them. Withal, the book is not a tract. It is worth a thousand such.
+    Informed throughout with a tender simplicity, a sense of the beauty
+    of common things, and a sincerity that brooks no question, it
+    carries equal appeal to the student of economics and to the lover
+    of human feeling."--_Philadelphia North American._
+
+    "There is no end of philosophy in books about the poor and how to
+    reach them and send rays of sunshine into their world; but few
+    books get at the real 'Differences' that exist between the wealthy
+    classes and the poor as does Mr. Hervey White.... _Differences_ is
+    vitally interesting, both as a story and as a moral lesson.... It
+    is written with wholesome enthusiasm and an intelligent survey of
+    real facts."--_Boston Herald._
+
+    "The method employed by Mr. Hervey White in _Differences_ is not
+    like that of any author I have ever read in the English language.
+    It resembles strongly the work of the best Russian novelists, it
+    seems to me, and particularly that of Dostoievsky, and yet it is in
+    no sense an imitation of those writers; it is apparently like them
+    merely because the author's motives and ways of thought and
+    observation are like them.... I have never before read any such
+    treatment in the English language of the life and thought of
+    laboring people."--Joseph Edgar Chamberlin, in _Boston Transcript_.
+
+
+For sale by all booksellers, or sent, postpaid, by the publishers on
+receipt of price.
+
+    Small, Maynard & Company,
+    PIERCE BUILDING
+    COPLEY SQ., BOSTON
+
+
+
+
+_A Powerful Realistic Novel of American Life._
+
+QUICKSAND
+
+BY HERVEY WHITE.
+
+    12mo, cloth, decorative, 328 pages.        ~$1.50~
+
+
+_Quicksand_ is a strong argument against a certain condition which the
+author believes exists too generally in American society, and is, in
+effect, an appeal for the freedom of the individual in family life. It
+is a powerful tragedy, developing very naturally out of the effects of
+the interference of parents in the lives of their children, and of
+brothers and sisters in the affairs of each other. It becomes
+therefore, not only the story of an individual, but the life history of
+an entire family, the members of which are portrayed with astonishing
+vividness and realism. The hero of the book also illustrates, in his
+sufferings and failures, the unfortunate effects of a too narrow
+orthodoxy in religion, coupled with his family's interference with his
+growth out of this environment. Offsetting the tragedy of the story is
+"Hiram," the "hired man" of the family in its earlier New England days,
+in whom, particularly, the reader's interest will centre. Patient,
+kindly, faithful, and uncomplaining, he is indeed the real "hero" of
+the tale, the only one free from the unfortunate environments of the
+other characters, yet forced indirectly to suffer also because of them.
+It is the every-day life of the every-day family that is drawn; and
+this fact, together with the boldness and fidelity of the drawing,
+gives the story its power and impressiveness.
+
+    "Hervey White is the most forceful writer who has appeared in
+    America for a long generation."--_Chicago Evening Post._
+
+    "We cannot remember another book in which lives, thoughts,
+    emotions, souls, and principles of action have been analyzed with
+    such convincing power. Mr. Hervey White has great literary skill.
+    He has here made his mark, and he has come to stay.... He is the
+    American George Gissing, and as such some day he will have to be
+    taken into account."--_Boston Herald._
+
+    "It should insure Mr. White a permanent place in the critical
+    regard of his fellow-countrymen.... Few characters as strong as
+    that of Elizabeth Hinckley have ever been drawn by an American
+    author, and she will remain in the mind of the most assiduous novel
+    reader, secure of a place far above that held by most of the puny
+    creations of the day."--_Chicago Tribune._
+
+    "It is wrought of enduring qualities. Few novels are so sustained
+    on an elevated plane of interest."--_Philadelphia Item._
+
+    "It is a novel that takes hold of one, and is not the sort of
+    book that, once begun, can be laid down without being finished."
+    --_Indianapolis News._
+
+
+For sale by all booksellers, or sent, postpaid, by the publishers
+on receipt of price.
+
+    Small, Maynard & Company,
+    PIERCE BUILDING
+    COPLEY SQ., BOSTON
+
+
+
+
+TUSKEGEE    ITS STORY & ITS WORK
+
+By MAX BENNETT THRASHER
+
+_With an Introduction by BOOKER T. WASHINGTON_
+
+12mo, cloth, decorative, 248 pages, 50 Illustrations, $1.00
+
+
+THE TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE, at Tuskegee, Alabama, is
+one of the most uniquely interesting institutions in America. Begun,
+twenty years ago, in two abandoned, tumble-down houses, with thirty
+untaught Negro men and women for its first students, it has become
+one of the famous schools of the country, with more than a thousand
+students each year. Students and teachers are all of the Negro race.
+The Principal of the school, Mr. Booker T. Washington, is the
+best-known man of his race in the world to-day.
+
+In "Tuskegee: Its Story and its Work," the story of the school is told
+in a very interesting way. He has shown how Mr. Washington's early life
+was a preparation for his work. He has given a history of the Institute
+from its foundation, explained the practical methods by which it gives
+industrial training, and then he has gone on to show some of the
+results which the institution has accomplished. The human element is
+carried through the whole so thoroughly that one reads the book for
+entertainment as well as for instruction.
+
+
+    _COMMENTS._
+
+    "All who are interested in the proper solution of the problem in
+    the South should feel deeply grateful to Mr. Thrasher for the
+    task which he has undertaken and performed so well."--BOOKER T.
+    WASHINGTON.
+
+    "Should be carefully and thoughtfully read by every friend of the
+    colored race in the North as well as in the South."--_New York
+    Times._
+
+    "The book is of the utmost value to all those who desire and hope
+    for the development of the Negro race in America."--_Louisville
+    Courier-Journal._
+
+    "Almost every question one could raise in regard to the school and
+    its work, from Who was Booker Washington? to What do people whose
+    opinion is worth having think of Tuskegee? is answered in this
+    book."--_New Bedford Standard._
+
+
+_For sale at all Bookstores, or sent, postpaid, on receipt of price,
+by the publishers_,
+
+    SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY, BOSTON.
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
+
+Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained
+as printed.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43634 ***