Baffled in an attempt to revolutionize or seize
Cuba, ambitious American politicians turned their attention to
Mexico and
Central America, coveting regions within the
Golden Circle.
Their operations first assumed the innocent form of an armed emigration—armed merely for their own protection—and their first theatre was a region on the great isthmus inhabited chiefly by a race of degraded natives.
It belonged to the
State of
Nicaragua, and was known as the
Mosquito Coast.
It promised to be a territory of great commercial importance.
Under the specious pretext that the
British were likely to possess it, and appealing to the “
Monroe doctrine” (see
Monroe, James) for justification, armed citizens of the
United States emigrated to that region.
Already the guns of the
American navy had been heard there as heralds of coming power.
The first formidable “emigration” took place in the autumn or early winter of 1854.
It was alleged that the native king of the Mosquito country bordering on the
Caribbean Sea had granted to two British subjects a large tract of the territory, the
British having for some time been trying to get a foothold there, and having induced the half-barbarian chief to assume independence of
Nicaragua.
By a pretended arrangement with the
British settlers there,
Col. H. L. Kinney led a band of armed emigrants and proceeded to settle on the territory.
The governor of
Nicaragua
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458]
protested against this invasion by citizens of the
United States.
The Nicaraguan minister at
Washington called the attention of the United States government to the subject, Jan. 16, 1855, and especially to the fact of the
British claim to political jurisdiction there, and urged that the
United States, while asserting the
Monroe doctrine as a correct political dogma, should not sanction the act complained of, as it was done under guarantees of British protection.
The United States government so mildly interfered (as a matter of policy) that the “emigration” movement was allowed to go on and assume more formidable proportions and aspects.
An agent of the conspirators named
William Walker, who had already, with a few followers, invaded the
Mexican state of
Sonora from
California and been repulsed, now appeared on the scene in connection with
Kinney, who invited him to assist in “improving the lands and developing the mineral resources” of his grant on Lake Nicaragua.
For that purpose, ostensibly,
Walker left
San Francisco with 300 men, and arrived on the coast of
Nicaragua on June 27, 1855.
On the following day he cast off all disguise and attempted to capture the town of
Rivas, under an impression that a revolutionary faction there would join him in his scheme of conquest.
He was mistaken.
He had been joined on his march by 150 Central
Americans under
General Castellon, but when these saw the Nicaraguan forces coming against them, they deserted
Walker.
The latter and his followers fled to the coast and escaped in a schooner.
Walker reappeared with armed followers on the coast of
Nicaragua in August following, and on Sept. 5 the “emigrants” in the Mosquito country, assuming independence, organized civil government there by the election of
Kinney as chief magistrate with a council of five assistants.
At that time
Nicaragua was convulsed by revolution, and the government was weak.
Walker, taking advantage of these conditions, had two days before vanquished in battle 400 government troops on
Virgin Bay.
He captured
Granada, the capital of the
State, on Oct. 12, and placed
General Rivas, a Nicaraguan, in the presidential chair.
Treating
Kinney with contempt,
Walker drove him from the Mosquito country, and attempted to strengthen his military power by “emigration” from the
United States.
A British consul recognized the new government of
Nicaragua, and the
American minister there,
John H. Wheeler, gave countenance to the usurpation.
These movements in
Nicaragua created alarm among the other governments on the isthmus, and in the winter of 1856 they formed an alliance.
Early in March,
Costa Rica made a formal declaration of war against the usurpers of
Nicaragua, and on the 10th of that month,
Walker, who was the real head of the state, made a corresponding declaration against
Costa Rica.
He shamelessly declared that he was there by the invitation of the Liberal party in
Nicaragua.
War began on March 20, when the
Costa Ricans marched into
Nicaragua.
Walker gained a victory in a battle, April 11, and became extremely arrogant.
He levied a forced loan on the people in support of his power.
Rivas, becoming disgusted with this “gray-eyed man of destiny,” as his admirers called him, left the presidency and proclaimed against
Walker.
Walker became his successor in office, June 24, and was inaugurated
President of
Nicaragua on July 12.
So the first grand act of a conspiracy against the life of a weak neighbor was accomplished.
The government at
Washington hastened to acknowledge the independence of the new nation, and
Walker's ambassador, in the person of Vijil, a
Roman Catholic priest, was cordially received by
President Pierce and his cabinet.
So strengthened,
Walker ruled with a high hand, and by his interference with trade offended commercial nations.
The other Central American states combined against him, and on May 20, 1857, he was compelled to surrender 200 men, the remnant of his army, to
Rivas; but by the interference of
Commodore Davis, of the United States navy, then on the coast,
Walker and a few of his followers were borne away unhurt.
But this restless adventurer fitted out another expedition at New Orleans, landed on the
Nicaraguan coast, Nov. 25, and was seized by
Commodore Paulding, United States navy, Dec. 3, with 230 of his followers, and taken to New York as prisoner.
James Buchanan was then
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459]
President of the
United States.
He
privately commended
Paulding's act, but for “prudential reasons,” he said, he publicly condemned the commodore in a special message to Congress, Jan. 7, 1858, for thus “violating the sovereignty of a foreign country!”
Buchanan set
Walker and his followers free, and they traversed the slave-labor States, preaching a new crusade against
Central America, and collecting funds for a new invasion.
Walker sailed from
Mobile on a third expedition, but was arrested off the mouth of the
Mississippi River, but only for having left port without a clearance.
He was tried at New Orleans by the
United States Court and acquitted, when he hastened to
Central America, and after making much mischief there, was captured and shot at
Truxillo, Sept. 12, 1860.
Nicaragua Canal
