Part 14

In order to show why the filibustering energies of the Americans have been specially directed to Nicaragua, and how it is that so small a party of them have so quickly got control of that State, and also to appreciate fully the position which their leaders occupy as members of the newly-formed government, it is necessary to give some information on the political condition of the country, and on recent events there, which the writer, while a resident in the country during the greater part of the revolution, had good opportunity of acquiring.

On the discovery of gold in California in 1848, when there was such a rush of gold-hunters to that land of promise both from the Old and the New World, the route generally followed was that by Panama, as the most expeditious—lines of steamers being established by American companies from New York and New Orleans to Chagres, and from Panama to San Francisco.

The supply of steamers, however, was never sufficient for the accommodation of the crowds of eager emigrants; the profits of the steamship companies were enormous, and American enterprise was not long in discovering and opening a new, and in many respects superior, route to the golden regions of the Pacific.

The new route lay through the State of Nicaragua, one of the five States into which the Central American Confederation was dissolved in the year 1831.

It was to the advantages offered by its geographical position that Nicaragua owed its distinction. The Lake of Nicaragua, a splendid sheet of water ninety miles long by about fifty broad, lies within the State. Its most western extremity is only twelve miles from the Pacific, and at its eastern extremity about one hundred and fifty miles from the Atlantic: it empties itself into that ocean through the river San Juan, which is navigable all the distance for small vessels, and forms at its mouth the harbour of Greytown or San Juan del Norte. An inter-oceanic canal was first talked of, but it was found that it would take all the gold in California to construct it; so that idea was for the time abandoned, and a New York company, styled the Accessory Transit Company of Nicaragua, got a charter from the State, granting them for considerations the exclusive privilege of steam-navigation of the river San Juan, and of the Lake Nicaragua, for a period of ninety-nine years.

Steamboats of various capacities, to suit the navigation of the river and of the lake, were sent out—a road over the twelve miles of land, between the lake and the harbour of San Juan del Sur on the Pacific, was commenced—steamships were put on between that port and San Francisco, and between New York and Greytown, and a large share of the Californian emigration began to stream through the country.

The difficulties of the route were at first considerable, owing to the number of rapids in the River San Juan requiring boats of peculiar construction for their navigation, and from the fact of the country through which lies the road to the Pacific being a mountainous wilderness, the greater part covered by a dense tropical forest.

In the rainy season, which lasts for about five months, the road was so bad that a mule would sink to his belly at every step; the twelve miles were not unfrequently a two days’ journey, and many a poor mule, after vainly struggling to extricate himself, succumbed to his fate, and was absorbed in the mud, leaving his rider to fight his own way through, which he generally did without much trouble. Such little difficulties were not thought much of by Californian emigrants in those days.

The Company, however, soon completed the road, and so far perfected their arrangements that the passage from ocean to ocean is performed in two days.

The travel to and fro between California and the Atlantic States is not confined to any particular class of the community. Capitalists, merchants, professional men, mechanics, labourers,—in fact, people of all classes, are constantly going and coming. For the last five years an average of two thousand Americans per month have passed to and fro by this route, and, during the few days occupied in transit, have had ample time to admire and covet the splendid country through which they passed, to look with utter contempt on the natives, and to speculate on what a country it would be if it were only under the Stars and Stripes.

The country, its climate, its advantages, resources, and social and political condition, have thus been gradually made familiar to a constantly increasing proportion of the people of the United States and of California.

It is in natural consequence of all this, and of the apparent hopelessness of immediate success in Cuba, that the attention of the filibustering portion of the American community has been gradually directed to the State of Nicaragua, and the late civil war in that country offered too favourable an opportunity to be lost for making a beginning in furtherance of the cherished idea.

The constitution of Nicaragua, like that of all the Spanish-American States, is republican—that is to say, in name; in effect it approaches more nearly to a despotism, a mode of government much better adapted to a people the majority of whom are quite incompetent to form any idea on the subject of self-government.

Since the dissolution of the Central American Confederation the country has been in a constant state of revolution. Two years is about the longest period of peace which has intervened. The people are wantonly destructive and cruel in their civil warfare; and having been so actively employed for nearly twenty years in cutting each other’s throats, battering down each other’s cities, spending their money in gunpowder, and ruining all producing interests by taking the labourers from the field to serve as soldiers, they had managed to reduce themselves and their country to such a wretched state of misery, that it really appeared to be the duty of some civilised nation to step in and keep them all in order.

In passing through the country, one cannot but be struck with the ruin and desolation everywhere apparent, and with the remains of bygone wealth and grandeur, but little in accordance with the poverty and listless indolence in which the inhabitants are now contented to live.

Their cities are half in ruins, and the churches, which, in their mode of warfare, they use as fortresses, have come in for their full share of destruction. Those which remain are peppered all over with cannon balls. The ruins on the old indigo and cotton estates give one an idea of the different way in which the people once employed themselves; but now, in a country capable of producing in the greatest abundance indigo, cotton, sugar, rice, coffee, tobacco, and nearly every other tropical production, little else is to be seen but plantains and Indian corn, the two great staple articles of food. The tobacco grown in the country is good; the people, men, women, and children, are inveterate smokers, but they do not even raise sufficient tobacco for their own consumption. The “cacao,” or chocolate, raised in the neighbourhood of the town of Rivas, is the finest in the world: it is a national beverage, and the greater part of the crop is consumed in the country; a small quantity is exported to the neighbouring States; but with the exception of a few bullock hides and deerskins, which are sent to New York, the country cannot be said to have any exports.

The climate generally is by no means unhealthy. It varies very much throughout the State, being in some parts much tempered by a constant breeze off the lake, while in the high lands of Segovia and Matagalpa, the temperature is so moderate that most of the grains and fruits of the north can be raised in great perfection.

The rainy season commences about the end of July, and continues till November or December. During this season it rains in torrents for days at a time, and the roads become almost impassable. The most sickly periods of the year are the beginning and the end of this season; fever and ague are then very prevalent, but the natives suffer more than foreigners, chiefly owing to the wretched way in which they live, the habitations of the lower orders affording generally but poor protection against the weather.

In the mountains of the district of Matagalpa, which form part of the great range which traverses all the North American continent, are mines of gold and silver. They have hitherto only been worked by the Indians in a very rude manner, but sufficient has been done to prove that they are rich: if scientifically worked, they will no doubt prove very productive.

The forests abound in rosewood, mahogany, and other beautiful woods, and throughout the State many valuable medicinal gums and plants are found.

The scenery is varied and very beautiful; at certain seasons the trees are completely covered with flowers, and the forests are a confused mass of luxuriant vegetation.

There are several volcanic mountains in the country, all of great similarity of appearance: the finest is Ometepe, which rises out of the lake, in the shape of a perfect cone, to the height of many thousand feet.

The people are very deficient in ambition and energy, and have a very decided objection to labour. As long as a man has sufficient to supply his immediate wants, he cannot be induced to work, but will devote himself to the passive enjoyment of swinging in his hammock, and smoking a cigar. In this way they pass the greater part of their time, as very little labour is requisite to provide plantains, beans, and Indian corn, which are the principal articles of food.

Gambling is a prevailing vice, cards and dice being chiefly played. Cockfighting, however, is the great national sport, and at this the most money is staked. The fight is never of very long duration, being generally nothing more than a flutter of wings for a moment, when one cock crows over the other lying dead at his feet, nearly cut in two by the long sharp knives with which their heels are armed.

They have celebrated breeds of chickens, on which they pride themselves, and in almost every house in the country may be seen one or more gamecocks tied by the leg in a corner. The owner is always ready to fight a cock on any occasion, but Sunday afternoon is the time generally devoted to this amusement, which is patronised by all classes.

The people possess a great deal of natural grace, and are extremely polite and formal in their manners; even the lower orders are remarkable for their gracefulness of gesture, and for their courteous phraseology.

The principal cities of Nicaragua are Granada, on the northern shore of the lake, and Leon, about a hundred and fifty miles to the north, and not far from the Pacific coast. They are both fine cities, built in the usual Spanish-American style, with narrow streets, and large houses of a single storey, covering an immense area, and built in the form of a square, the centre being an open space, generally planted with trees and flowers, and all round which is a wide open corridor. The houses are very spacious and lofty, and admirably adapted to the climate.

The population of Granada is about 15,000, that of Leon is rather more. Between the inhabitants of these two cities there has always existed a bitter feeling of jealousy and enmity, and in most of their revolutions the opposing factions have been the Granadinos against the Leoneses. So it was in the revolution which is only now terminated, and which commenced in May 1854.

The government at that time was in the hands of the Granada party. The president, the late Don Fruto Chamorro, was a man of great energy and determination, but unfortunately also of most stubborn obstinacy. He would listen to advice from no one, but blindly insisted on carrying out his own ideas. After being a little more than a year in power, and becoming more despotic every day, he issued a decree, declaring himself president for four years more than the usual term.

The Leon party of course immediately got up a revolution, of which the leaders were a few prominent men, whom Chamorro had a few months before banished from the State, on suspicion of their being engaged in a conspiracy against the government. At the head of them was Francisco Castillon, a man of superior education, and with much more liberal and enlightened views than most of his countrymen, having spent some years in England as minister for Nicaragua. The object of the revolution was to place Castillon in power, and the party professed to entertain liberal ideas, and styled themselves the Democratic Party. They commenced their operations at Realejo, a small port on the Pacific, at the northern extremity of the State, where, with a small force, they surprised the few soldiers of the garrison. They proceeded to Chinandega, a considerable town about six miles on the way to Leon. Here they met but slight resistance, the majority of the people being favourable to them; and with a large addition to their force, they marched towards Leon, distant about thirty miles, where they established their head-quarters, after fighting one battle in the neighbourhood with the government forces under Chamorro in person, who was defeated, and retired to Granada. In Leon they remained some time recruiting their forces, before venturing to attack Granada, which is the great stronghold of the government party.

The system adopted of recruiting is very simple indeed. A few soldiers with fixed bayonets are sent out to bring in fresh men, or, to use their own expressive term, to “catch” men. When the unfortunate recruit is “caught,” a musket is put in his hands, and he becomes a soldier. Soldiering is by no means a popular occupation: during a revolution, at the approach of forces of either party, the peace-loving natives, in order to escape being “caught,” and forced into the service, will remain hidden in the woods till they are nearly starved. The lower orders take but little interest in the revolutions, or in politics, and from troops raised in this way, of course very valorous deeds are not to be expected. They generally desert on the first opportunity; but, if they do not take their muskets with them, it is of little consequence, as other men are soon caught, and made to carry them. Sometimes, however, men become scarce, the able-bodied having emigrated to some more peaceful locality; in such a case one-half of a garrison is placed to keep guard over the other half, to prevent their running away.

There is consequently no mutual feeling of confidence between officers and men. During impending danger of an attack, the officers will keep their horses saddled all night, and sleep with their spurs on, ready to cut and run at a moment’s notice, and leave their men to take care of themselves. The men, in their turn, when led into battle, will turn round and desert their officers at the most critical moment. There are exceptions, of course; and during the late revolution, many, both officers and men, fought well and bravely; none more so than the late President Chamorro.

While the Democrats were recruiting in Leon, Chamorro was busy collecting his forces in Granada, and preparing to stand a siege.

In all these Spanish towns is a large public square called the Plaza, in which are generally the principal church, the barracks, and other public buildings. The Plaza, in case of war, becomes the citadel, the streets leading into it being all barricaded, and cannon planted so as to command the approaches. Chamorro enclosed within his barricades the Plaza, and a considerable portion of the city immediately surrounding it. The streets being narrow, barricades were soon made of logs of wood and “adobes,” a sort of sun-dried bricks, of which the houses are built.

Double and triple barricades of this sort, eight or ten feet high, presented a very effectual resistance to anything which the enemy had to bring against them. The Democrats soon made their appearance, and taking possession of all that part of the city not enclosed in the barricades, they fixed their head-quarters in an elevated situation, from which they could pop their cannon balls into any part of the Plaza.

Neither party were well provided with artillery. They had each three or four guns, twelve and twenty-four pounders, with which they blazed away at each other for nearly a year, and between them managed to lay about three-fourths of the city in ruins.

The city was never completely invested, and occasional skrimmages between small parties of the opposing forces took place outside the town, but nothing worthy the name of an assault was ever attempted. The Democrats soon became masters of the entire country, with the exception of the besieged portion of the city of Granada occupied by Chamorro and his party, the Legitimists, as they called themselves.

When a small detachment of the Democratic army marched upon Rivas, the only town of importance in the part of the country through which the Transit road passes, the inhabitants, being mostly in favour of the Chamorro government, fled _en masse_, taking with them all their valuables and movable property, to the neighbouring state of Costa Rica, the frontier of which is within twenty miles.

The few who had the courage to remain were not molested, but the Democrats appropriated to their own use as barracks, &c., whatever private houses suited their convenience, and commenced levying contributions on the inhabitants; but as they had fled, and were not present to respond to the call, their property was advertised for sale, their stores broken open, their goods sold, and sundry other forcible measures taken to raise funds.

The mode of financing in time of revolution is equally simple with that of recruiting.

When a contribution, as they call it, is levied on a town, the principal inhabitants are assessed arbitrarily by the officers in command for as much as each is supposed to be able to pay. The unfortunate victims have then to fork out the dollars; there is no help for them. If they refuse, or plead poverty, they are perhaps imprisoned and kept on low diet: a few days of this treatment has a wonderful effect on the memory, and frequently enables a man to remember where he has buried his cash, or to discover some means of raising the needful, to be handed over for the support of the party, to which probably he may be opposed. When his own party come in to power again, they will make him disgorge to double the amount by way of punishment. For these forced loans he may get some sort of debenture, worth about as much as the paper it is written on. In such times the people are afraid to let it be supposed that they have any money at all; they feign poverty, burying their money secretly, and the houses of foreign residents are lumbered up with all sorts of chests and boxes, sent there stealthily by the unfortunate natives, in order to keep them safe from the rapacity of their countrymen.

The Democrats from the first were eager to obtain the good-will of the American residents; and as they professed to be fighting in the cause of liberty and progress, against tyranny and old-fogeyism, they succeeded in enlisting a dozen or so of Americans in San Juan del Sur and Virgin Bay. The latter place is a small village on the lake, where the passengers by the Transit route embark on the steamers. They paid these men about a hundred dollars per month, gave them commissions as colonels and captains, and sent them to Granada to pepper the Chamorro party with their rifles.

With the aid of some Americans, they also took possession of San Carlos, which is an old fort situated at the point where the lake debouches into the river San Juan. It is a position of great importance, as it commands the entrance into the lake, by which is the only communication between the interior of the country and the Atlantic. They also occupied an old Spanish fort about fifty miles down the river, called Castillo, where there are a few hotels kept by Americans for the accommodation of passengers by the Transit route.

In Leon, the head-quarters of the Democrats, they proclaimed their government, declaring Castillon president. They appointed all the necessary government functionaries throughout the State, and in fact were the virtual government of the country.

The Legitimists remained in a state of siege in Granada, and would have had to surrender for want of ammunition, had they not succeeded in retaking San Carlos from the Democrats, and thereby opening their communication with the Atlantic; they then procured a large supply of powder and shot from Jamaica.

During the siege the besieging army of Democrats numbered about fifteen hundred, while the Legitimists did not number more than a thousand.

The Democrats were assisted by the state of Honduras to the extent of two hundred men; and the Legitimists were long in negotiation with the government of Guatemala, which was favourable to their cause, but they did not succeed in getting any material aid from that State.

After ten months’ vain endeavour to take the Plaza of Granada, the Democrats, last February, broke up their camp, and retired to Leon. At a town called Masaya, about half-way from Granada, they were overtaken and attacked by the opposite party. A bloody fight ensued—the thickest of it took place in the church, in which some three hundred men were killed.

The Granada party now regained possession of the southern part of the State, while the Democrats continued to hold Leon and all the northern portion.

During the time that the Transit route had been held by the Democrats, they had been most active in their endeavours to enlist Americans in their cause. Cash was scarce, but their offers of lands to those who would join them were very liberal; and it soon became known, both in Nicaragua and in California, that a negotiation had been concluded between Colonel Walker in San Francisco, through his agent in Nicaragua, and the Democratic government, whereby large tracts of land were granted to him, and other privileges guaranteed to him, on condition of his coming down with a certain number of men to serve in the Democratic army.

This Colonel Walker had already distinguished himself as the most daring filibuster of the day. In the month of October 1853, he was the leader of an expedition which sailed from San Francisco, with the intention of taking possession of Sonora, a northern state of Mexico, adjoining California. He landed at a small place on the coast, with some fifty or sixty men, where he met but little resistance. He proclaimed himself president, and appointed each one of his party to some high office of state. He very soon, however, had to evacuate the premises, and escaped to California, with but a small portion of his original band; and on his arrival in San Francisco, was tried for a violation of the neutrality laws: he conducted his own defence, and of course was acquitted. The people of California are not disposed to judge very harshly of such an enterprise, and from the larger portion of the community he met with more sympathy than condemnation.