J If' I P ^--'r' ''i i lii OCEAN TO OCEAN AN ACCOUNT PERSONAL AND HISTORICAL OF NICARAGUA AND ITS PEOPLE BY J. W. G. WALKER, U. S. N. With illustrations from original photographs and maps CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1902 THE LIBRARY SF OONGRESS, Two Copies Receive* MAR. 8 1902 C«»PVRIOHT ENTBY CLASS a^ XXo. N». COPY B. COPYRIGHT A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1902 PUBLISHED FEBRUARY, I902. «^^^ ^^•'l PREFATORY NOTE. During the year 1898 the author was em- ployed, under the direction of the Nicaragua Canal Commission, in surveying the belt of country available for canal construction be- tween Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean. This little volume is the outgrowth of that visit to the country. It does not pretend to literary excellence, nor does it purport to treat exhaustively the subjects touched upon, but aims rather to give a correct idea of the country and people, and to afford in a compact form such other information as the general reader may desire. While an Isthmian Canal now seems assured, it is impossible at the present time to tell whether the Nicaragua or Panama route will finally be chosen. The construction of a canal at either location is perfectly practicable, and if the works of the Panama Company were ac- quired for ^40,000,000 the cost of completing the two channels would be practically the same. The chief disadvantage of the Nicar- agua route is the cost of operation and maintenance, which is estimated at ^3,300,000 4 OCEAN TO OCEAN per annum, or ^1,300,000 more than the Panama route. Whether it should be chosen in preference to its rival seems to depend, therefore, upon whether it possesses superior advantages worth securing at this excess annual expenditure. These advantages are, briefly, as follows. A saving of from one to two days upon all trans-isthmian commerce except that originat- ing or ending upon the west coast of South America. The commerce thus benefited in- cludes that between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States, which, being coastwise trade protected by law from foreign competition, is of special importance to the American people. More favorable hygienic conditions at Nicar- agua, indicating less loss of life during construc- tion, and less liability to commercial loss after completion, from the quarantine of vessels. The possibility of developing large portions of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and of establish- ing, during the period of construction, intimate business relations which would benefit our manufacturing, agricultural, and other interests. The Panama Canal would be merely a means of communication between the two oceans. An average saving of about nine days for sailing ships in reaching and leaving the termini, due to the prevalence of trade winds PREFATORY NOTE. 5 not felt at Panama. It is probable that for many years to come considerable slow moving freight will be transported by large five-masted schooners, manned by small crews, and this class of shipping should therefore receive due consideration. It is estimated that with a proper system of tolls the revenues of either canal would greatly exceed the cost of maintenance and operation, but would not be sufficient to pay a fair rate of interest upon the capital invested. If, there- fore, the canal is regarded as a business venture, the Panama location is unquestionably prefer- able; but if it is regarded as a means of benefit- ing mankind, and particularly the citizens of the United States, the Nicaragua route has many strong claims to consideration. In the preparation of this volume, numerous official reports and standard treatises were consulted, notably the works of Squier, Belt, and Keasebey. Thanks are due to Messrs. W. V. Alford, D. H. Baldwin, G. W. Brown, Fred Davis, and H. W. Durham, for photographs loaned, and to Mr. E. B. Harden for much valuable aid and encouragement. J. W. G. Walker. U. S. Navy Yard, Charlestown, Mass., Jan. 20, 1902. CONTENTS Chapter I Introductory II Narrative — New York to Greytown III Historical and Diplomatic . . . IV Physical Considerations .... V Canal Projects, Past and Present VI Narrative — Greytown to Rivas . VII Narrative — San' Pablo and Espinal VIII Narrative — Paraiso and El Pavon IX Narrative — La Flor X Narrative — Tola and El Carmen XI Narrative — Rivas to Granada XII Early Political History .... XIII William Walker, Eilibuster . . . XIV Narrative — Managua to Corinto Page II 26 40 74 85 119 138 153 163 178 194 212 240 271 APPENDIX : Great Britain — Interoceanic Ship Canal . 283 Interoceanic Canai, 290 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS V' Head of Rio Chico Frontispiece FACING PAGE Camp on San Juan River 32 Ruined Dredgers at Greytown 38 The Plaza, Greytown 5° ^ The Fort and River Front, Castillo 98 ■^ Castillo 122 A Native Belle 136 Street in a Native Town 140 -^ A Transit Party iS4 A Buttressed Giant of the Forest 158 Primitive Sawmill still in Use 164 A Native Village 198 The Volcano Momotombo 272 The Water Front, Corinto 278 MAPS General Map of the Nicaragua Canal Belt 10 Map of the Western Division, showing Loca- tion OF Proposed Canal 74 Map of the Lower San Juan River, showing Location of Proposed Canal . . . . . 120 Map of the Upper San Juan River, showing Location of Proposed Canal 126 ^ GENERA]. MAP OF THE Nicaragua Canal Belt c ^ r^vV OCEAN TO OCEAN CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY ALAND of purple hills and fertile valleys clad in a garment of perennial green, where cold and hunger are alike un- known, and fever flies before the purifying northeast trades, what wonder that an ancient chronicler, marvelling at the lavishness of na- ture's gifts, called Nicaragua " Mahomet's Par-> adise " ? Everything essential to the material wants of man is ready to his hand, and the earth needs scant encouragement to bring forth its abundance. Luscious fruits of the tropics mingle with products of the temperate zone; oranges, mangoes, guavas, plantains, spring spontaneously from the soil. The feathery heads of cocoanut palms nod against an azure sky, while the blackened stumps in scattered clearings are lost in billowy fields of corn. Deer bound across the forest glades, herds of peccaries thread the matted jungle, and succu- 12 OCEAN TO OCEAN , lent wild turkeys are ever-present neighbors. From the tangled virgin forests of the eastern coast, bathed in warm showers from the restless sea, to the comparatively cultivated Pacific slope, basking each year in six long months of sun- shine, the land is one of wondrous beauty and richness. A salubrious climate, an equable temperature, and a marked absence of the more noxious forms of animal life combine to make " Mahomet's Paradise " deserving of its name. "^ Amidst these fair surroundings four hundred thousand people are dreaming the years away. No traditions of the past, no ambitions for the future, disturb the even tenor of their lives. A hammock in the shade during the sunny sum- mer days, a thatched roof when it rains, plan- tains plucked from a near-by tree, and corn and beans from some half-cultivated garden supply their every need. In such a climate clothing is merely a concession to the claims of decency, and Nicaraguans are not a nation of prudes. The wonders of the forest, questions of na- tional import, even the frequently recurring revolutions forced by interested party leaders, awaken only a languid and transitory interest in minds habitually steeped in indolence. In a few brief years they shall return to Mother Earth; why, then, vex themselves with dis- turbing problems which perhaps only time can INTRODUCTORY 13 solve? Here, one may at least be comfortable : beyond, quien sabe ? Situated between io°4o' and 15° north lati- tude and 83'' 1 1' and 87°4o' west longitude, Nic- aragua has an area of 58,500 square miles, or about seven times that of Massachusetts. Its eastern boundary is the Caribbean Sea, which extends from Cape Gracias a Dios on the north to the Colorado mouth of the Rio San Juan on the south, a distance of about 280 miles. The coast is low and swampy for a distance of from twenty to fifty miles from the sea, and numer- ous shallow lagoons afford shelter to craft of light draught. A multitude of small islands, the chief of which are Great and Little Corn, Old Providence, and St. Andrew's, He off shore ; picturesque bits of scenery little appreciated by navigators. The only harbors worthy of note which are available for present use are Pearl Cay and Blewfields lagoons, both deficient in depth but otherwise good. Greytown harbor, which fifty years ago afforded safe and ample anchorage for sea-going craft, has been cut off from the sea by bars of sand, and can only be entered by small tugs and lighters through the mouth of the Rio San Juan. It was opened in 1890 by the Nicaragua Canal Construction Company, but since the abandonment of work on the canal it has again closed. The southern boundary of Nicaragua follows 14 OCEAN TO OCEAN the right bank of the Rio San Juan from Har- bor Head to within three miles of Castillo, where it leaves the river to the northward but runs parallel to it and to the southern shore of the lake, at a distance of three miles, to a point near the Rio Sapoa, whence it takes a south- erly direction for a few miles to its terminus at Salinas Bay. The Pacific coast is almost a con- tinuation of the southern boundary, although it trends slightly more to the northward, and the two together form the base of an isosceles triangle, of which Cape Gracias a Dios is the apex, and the Caribbean seacoast and northern boundary the other two sides. The Pacific coast, 200 miles in length, is bold and rocky, with two excellent harbors, Corinto (Realejo) and San Juan del Sur, both of which are vis- ited regularly by ships of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Brito, often referred to as a harbor, is merely a slight indentation of the coast-line formed by a projecting rocky headland, and is only used by occasional bands of insurgents or smugglers because of its isol- ated position. The northern boundary, from the Gulf of Fonseca on the Pacific Ocean to Cape Gracias a Dios on, the Caribbean Sea, passes through a comparatively unknown country. As has been said, the eastern coast is bordered by a low and swampy belt from 20 to 50 miles wide, from the western side of INTRO D UCTOR Y 1 5 which spring the foothills of the Cordilleras, heavily timbered and little known except near the Rio San Juan. Thence the country gradu- ally increases in altitude to the summit of the range, rising in the mountainous northern districts to an average elevation of four or five thousand feet above the sea, but barely attain- ing as many hundred in the depression through which the Rio San Juan flows. The slope from the watershed to the basin occupied by lakes Nicarasfua and Managrua is short and steep : hence the streams flowing to the west- ward are insignificant, while those flowing to the Caribbean Sea are long and of considerable volume, traversing broad sloping plateaus dotted with mountain peaks, the origin of which will be explained in a subsequent chapter. The Atlantic slope is covered with a dense virgin forest, producing mahogany and rubber in abundance. Farther to the westward, in Chontales, Matagalpa and Segovia, are broad savannahs sustaining great herds of beef cattle, horses, and m.ules; while along the Pacific coast is a strip of comparatively open, fertile country, in which is concentrated the greater part of the population and wealth of Nicaragua. Coffee, cacao, sugar-cane, tobacco, rice, and indigo thrive ; corn produces two and some- times four crops a year; and cotton does well but is little cultivated. l6 OCEAN TO OCEAN The country's natural resources are im- mense. Millions of acres of rich land, the product of decomposed volcanic tufas, need but Httle encouragement to yield enormous harvests. Only the innate laziness of the natives, intensified by frequently recurring civil wars and consequent conscription and oppres- sion, prevents the country from blooming like a vast garden. A government bounty of ten cents for every cacao tree and one of five cents for every coffee tree planted is intended to stimiilate production, but the difiEculty, not to say impossibility, of procuring the payment of such bounties has rendered the device of doubtful utility. Nevertheless, both coffee and cacao are extensively cultivated, the former more particularly in high parts of the country and upon mountain sides, where the air is cool. Fruits grow in surprising variety and pro- fusion. Plantains, bananas, mangoes, guavas, oranges, limes, lemons, nisperos, watermelons, muskmelons, citrons, pineapples, and cocoanuts abound; but little attention is paid to their cultivation, the people seeming to prefer in- ferior fruit grown without labor to better varieties requiring some care. A favorite fruit, which might more properly be classed as a vegetable, is the avocado, or alligator pear, whose yellow, oily meat makes a delicious salad. Medicinal and flavoring plants abound ; INTROD UCTOR Y I ^ sarsaparilla, aloes, ipecacuanha, ginger, vanilla, copaiva, gum arable, and Peruvian bark (qui- nine) are indigenous. Mahogany, brazil-wood, cedar, logwood, lignum-vitae, and rosewood grow in the forests, the first three in great pro- fusion, a lack of transportation facilities and the Government's policy of granting exclusive rights to favored merchants alone preventing the development of an extensive and profitable export trade. Gold and silver occur in con- siderable quantities north and east of the lakes, but the difificulty of conveying suitable ma- chinery over rugged mountains and through trackless woods has prevented any considerable pursuit of what may some day prove a profitable industry. The feature which renders Nicaragua of peculiar interest to the rest of the world is its great lake, communicating with the Carib- bean Sea by a noble stream, the Rio San Juan, and separated from the Pacific Ocean by a strip of land only twelve miles wide, containing the lowest pass through the continental divide from Alaska to Cape Horn. The lake is elliptical in form, lOO miles long by 45 miles wide, and the elevation of its surface varies from 97 to no feet above that of the sea. It receives the overflow from Lake Managua, which lies 17 miles to the northwestward and has an area of 438 square miles, the two together draining 1 8 OCEAN TO OCEAN yf about 8,500 square miles of country, a territory as large as the state of Massachusetts. The Rio San Juan, which carries all of this drainage to the Caribbean Sea, is a large stream naviga- ble for river boats during the greater part of the year, but containing four rapids which im- pede traffic to a certain extent. The " Vic- toria," an iron boat drawing some five or six feet of water, was taken from the sea to the lake during a period of unusually high water, but under ordinary circumstances no attempt is made to pass the rapids at Castillo, freight being hauled around them on a tramway and reshipped by another boat. The Machuca, Balas, and Toro rapids are passable for river boats during the rainy season. The entire length of the stream, from the outlet of the lake to the sea, is 122 miles, and its average width is about 1,000 feet. Except at the rapids, and in the delta portion during the dry season, there is an abundant depth of water for any but sea-going vessels, although, should the stream be canalized as has been proposed, considerable straightening and deep- ening would be necessary. The upper reaches are characterized by a comparatively sluggish current, but below the mouth of the Rio San Carlos it is a swift, shallow, turbid stream. The depression west of the lake, through which it is proposed to build the canal, con- INTRODUCTORY 1 9 sists of the Rio Las Lajas and Rio Grande valleys, the former containing a lake affluent and the latter sloping gently to the Pacific Ocean. The summit of the separating divide is only 154 feet above the sea, and the distance from lake to ocean along the projected location is about 1 7 miles. Besides the Rio San Juan, Nicaragua has three large rivers, all of which flow into the Caribbean Sea and are comparatively unknown. They are the Rio Coco, called also the Wanks and the Segovia, which follows the Honduras boundary and enters the sea at Cape Gracias a Dios ; the Rio Grande,^ or Avaltara ; and the Escondido, or Blewfields River, which de- bouches into Blewfields Lagoon. Many streams of lesser size flow to the sea or feed the lakes ; west of the Chontales mountains they are, however, usually somewhat torrential in char- acter, attaining considerable volume during the wet season but dwindling to extinction beneath the scorching sun of summer. The great chain of the Cordilleras, which for- merly constituted the continental divide, crosses Nicaragua from northwest to southeast, par- alleling the eastern shore of the lake at a dis- ^ This should not be confounded with the Rio Grande west of Lake Nicaragua, through whose valley the canal location passes. There are at least three Rio Grandes in Nicaragua — probably many more. ../ 20 OCEAN TO OCEAN tance of some thirty miles and thrusting itself upon the San Juan valley near the town of Castillo. West of this range, and extending from the Gulf of Fonseca on the north to the island of Ometepe on the south, is another, the Cordillera de los Marabios, consisting of a series of volcanic peaks in various stages of activity or decay. Through these vents has been ejected, in comparatively recent geologic times, the material which forms the Jinotepe plateau and the fertile plain of Leon, and which, by separating the former Bay of Nicaragua from the Pacific Ocean, has produced the present lake. Many of the peaks are extinct and crumb- ling; others, as Momotombo, smoke and give occasional signs of activity. While numerous eruptions have taken place within historic times, none of consequence have been in dan- gerous proximity to the canal line, and there are reasons, which will be explained later, for supposing that future outbreaks will occur in the more remote portions of the range. Nicaragua is a military despotism masquerad- ing as a Republic. The president, although nominally elected by the people, is almost in- variably a successful military leader who forces himself into office and maintains his supremacy with a strong hand. Such a government, while arbitrary and tyrannical, is probably best adapted to the needs of the country. In their INTRODUCTORY 21 present stage of development the people are unfit for true self-government, and internecine war and consequent national disintegration would result from any indecision or over- scrupulousness on the part of the executive. The present incumbent, General Zelaya, is an able, broad-minded man whose strong personal- ity and indomitable energy have enabled him to administer a restless and unappreciative country for eight troubled years. He represents the Liberal party, and, since one of its most notable achievements has been the curbing of the power of the clergy in temporal affairs, it is needless to say that the sym.pathies of the priesthood are in general with his Conservative opponents, the chief of whom live in exile, whence they direct abortive insurrections against the existing gov- ernment. Notwithstanding a certain laxity of morals among her local officers the Church has great influence with the people and is an ally not be despised. Zelaya first became President in July, 1893, as the result of a revolution against an unpopu- lar Conservative government. He was elected for a third term of four years in 1901, — his enemies say after disfranchising a large number of his political opponents by the simple expedi- ent of conscription. Under his rule the country has prospered, according to Central American standards, and it is probable that the occasional 22 OCEAN TO OCEAN insurrections which occur are due more to the desire of Conservative leaders to return to power than to any wide-spread dissatisfaction among the people. The government is des- potic, but perhaps none other would be less so. The Constitution is modelled somewhat after that of the United States, but with certain im- portant differences. Perhaps the most far- reaching of these is the power of appointment vested in the President, He designates all de- partmental and municipal officials and is thus enabled to employ agents who may be de- pended upon to carry out his will. His power of disfranchising voters of opposing factions by impressing them for military service has already been noted. A Cabinet of five ministers is se- lected by the President, and there is a Congress of one house, the members of which are elected by universal suffrage for terms of two years. The judicial power is vested in a supreme Court of Justice, two chambers of second in- stance, and judges of inferior tribunals. The . army is the entire male population of the country, a portion of which is always under arms; a bare-footed, undisciplined mob, armed for the most part with old Remington rifles, it is nevertheless a rather effective fighting force of great endurance and mobility. A limited number of modern field-guns are efficiently served by trained men. There is no real navy, INTRODUCTORY 23 although the " Momotombo," an old tramp steamer mounting several field-pieces, lay at Corinto when I was there, and " El 93," plying upon Lake Nicaragua, is owned by the govern- ment and frequently has troops aboard. The population of Nicaragua is estimated at 420,000, most of which is concentrated north and west of the lakes. The Indian element predominates, but there are many whites and negroes of pure blood, besides a large mixed population. The whites are of course chiefly of Spanish extraction ; the Indians of Mata- galpa and the west coast are of Aztec descent, retaining the mild and amiable characteristics of their forefathers, while those of the east coast are of a different race, darker and smaller, and are usually called Caribs or Mosquitoes, although these names should properly be ap- plied only to members of two among many related coast tribes. The principal towns, in order of their size, are Leon, Masaya, Granada, Chinandega, Managua, and Rivas ; no reliable census has ever been taken, but their popu- lation is estimated as follows : Leon, 50,000 ; Masaya, 18,000; Granada, 15,000; Chinan- dega, 12,000; Managua, 10,000; and Rivas, 8,000. They are all upon Nicaragua's main artery of commerce, which extends from Grey- town to Corinto and consists of the Rio San Juan, Lake Nicaragua, a railway from Granada 24 OCEAN TO OCEAN on Lake Nicaragua to Managua on Lake Mana- gua, Lake Managua, and a railway from Momo- tombo on Lake Managua to Corinto. Rivas has the additional commercial advantage of being within eighteen miles of the port of San Juan del Sur, but this is neutralized by its lack of sympathy with the existing government and its proximity to the Costa Rican frontier, which make it the objective point of occasional revo- lutionary incursions from the neighbor state, to the utter destruction of trade. The country is of course essentially agricultural, and manu- facturing and mining are infant industries. Nevertheless, large quantities of brown sugar and aguardiente are produced for home con- sumption, while cotton, silk, shoes, hammocks, saddle-bags, pottery, hats, saddles, and other articles of native make bid fair to hold their own against imported goods. An impression seems to prevail throughout the United States that Nicaragua is an un- healthful country. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The climate is doubtless en- ervating, because of the continuous heat and the quantity of moisture in the air during half the year or more, but it is not more unhealth- ful than that of large portions of our own country. Remittent and intermittent fevers, which are the most prevalent diseases, are mild in character, of brief duration, and succumb INTRODUCTORY 2$ readily to medical treatment. The same may be said of most other maladies, particularly of bronchitis and pneumonia. Yellow fever, which rages at Port Limon, 75 miles down the coast, is unknown at Greytown, perhaps because the heavy and almost constant rainfall prevents the accumulation of filth. Certain towns on the west side have an unenviable reputation for sickliness, but this must be attributed, not to the climate, but to an utter disregard of the simplest sanitary precautions. To an indi- vidual or community living under suitable con- ditions the climate is innocuous, although it may be questioned whether it will remain so along the canal line after excavation has begun. CHAPTER II NARRATIVE — NEW YORK TO GREYTOWN IT was arranged that we should sail from New York for Grey town the 5 th of December, 1897, on the gunboat " New- port," which had been placed at the disposal of the Nicaragua Canal Commission by the Secretary of the Navy both for purposes of transportation and to make the necessary off- shore surveys at Greytown. The day fixed for our departure dawned clear and cold, with a stiff westerly wind. In accordance with a previous arrangement, I met the members of the Commission and the Chief Engineer at the foot of East 23rd Street and embarked with them upon a tug which took us over to the Navy Yard, where the " Newport " was lying. The little ship was crowded from stem to stern, and it was with some difficulty that we struggled to our quarters and stored our impedimenta, but when the whistle sounded there was a shore- ward rush of relatives and friends and our party assumed its normal proportions. We NEW YORK TO GREY TOWN 2/ left the dock amid shouting and waving of handkerchiefs and were soon steaming down the harbor. The " Newport " is a Httle composite bark- entine-rigged gunboat of a thousand tons' displacement, of considerable coal endurance, but only moderate speed, and as we carried a lot of lumber and two large steam launches on the spar deck she trimmed badly and could not do herself justice. Then, too, she had recently been put in commission and possessed no heat- inof facilities. The result was that when we got outside Sandy Hook and were exposed to the full force of the biting winter wind and an unaccustomed swell, sixty-nine de- pressed landsmen of the engineering staff crowded forward to the funnel's grateful warmth, heedless of the fact that the odors arising from the engine-room hatch were not the best possible preparation for a trip around Cape Hatteras. Dinner and supper were poorly attended, — which perhaps was fortu- nate, since the cooks had not yet found their sea legs, — and we turned in early, sleeping in cots and hammocks so closely packed together on the gun deck that, once ensconced in one's proper berth, it was practically impossible to move. I was thought particularly fortunate in being quartered in the Captain's ofHce, but as I lay crosswise of the ship I stood first on one 28 OCEAN TO OCEAN end and then on the other, like a living minute glass; and towards morning, when I had finally attained a state of blissful unconsciousness, the typewriter slid from its stand, and, falling upon my already sorely tried stomach, abruptly recalled me to the stern realities of life. All the next day and night it continued cold, but the wind was in the main fair and we made satisfactory progress. By Tuesday we began to run into warm weather and durine the remainder of the trip our only difficulty was in keeping comfortably cool. Our daily routine never varied. At five, or a little before, we turned out, that our bedding might be stowed away and the decks scrubbed. We went forward and pretended to wash in salt water under very unfavorable conditions, and then perched upon high places to watch the stars fade and the sun rise out of the sea, while the blue-jackets, with trousers rolled up to their knees, sluiced water about the decks. At half past seven we breakfasted, provided two hours and a half on a heaving deck had not made it a physical impossibility, after which pipes and cigars were produced and end- less yarns were spun. I do not think we enjoyed our tobacco much, but he who smoked not was regarded with suspicion. Dinner was the next event, followed by more smoke and yarns, — and so the day wore away. We NEW YORK TO GREYTOWN 29 turned in early, both to kill time and to get a little sleep before the pitiless boatswain's mate awoke us in the gray of the morning to another round of meals and ancient tales. Off the Florida coast the trip was delightful. The sea was smooth, with a gentle breeze from the westward, and we skirted the shore, some- times within a mile and a half of the beach. Schools of flying fish skimmed over the waves, and occasionally the long fin of a shark broke the monotony of the water. At night a glori- ous moon cast a silver sheen along our wake, the lapping of waves at our sides, the murmur of wind in the rigging, and the occasional chiming of the ship's bell alone breaking the silence as we swept onward like a great white ghost towards the sunny south. We reached Key West on the morning of Saturday, the nth of December, and at once began coaling ship, that we might reach Greytown with full bunkers. From our berth at the end of a long pier extending into the clear emerald green water, we had an excellent view across the harbor, dotted with shipping and enlivened by boats pulling to and fro. On the shore near by were the custom house and an arsenal shaded by southern laurels and standing against a fine background of feathery palms. Behind these lay the town, which was quite foreign in appearance and where we 30 OCEAN TO OCEAN heard as much Spanish as English. The soil is sandy and the growth of grass was consequently rather sparse, but many of the dwelling houses, although without any pretence to architectural beauty, were rendered very attractive by the mass of semi-tropical foliage which surrounded them. The dark glossy leaves of the laurel, the nodding heads of the palms against the brilliant azure sky, and the distant sparkle of the ever-present sea made a picture not easily forgotten. There were many little shops with Spanish signs where tobacco, coral, sponges, and shell ornaments were sold, but everything except cigar-making was apparently upon a small scale. On and near the shelving beach lay scores of small craft used for sponge fishing and in the other industries which support the place, and several sea-going vessels, including two men-of- war were anchored in the harbor. At one time the low-lying keys to the eastward were a veri- table gold mine to the wrecker, but there are now so many light-houses and beacons that navigation is rendered comparatively safe. We left Key West early Sunday evening and threaded our way cautiously out to sea. It was a beautiful still night, and by the time we had fairly left the lights of the town behind us and shaped our course for the Dry Tortugas, the moon rose like a ball of fire from the NEW YORK TO GREYTOWN 31 sea, and, paling as it neared the zenith, shed a path of silver over the crystal trembling waves. All day Monday the calm lasted, and the sea was smooth as glass, but by Tuesday morning we were out from under the lee of Cuba and awoke to find the ship plunging and thrashing along through the water, with a stiff breeze on her port quarter and the spray flying from the crest of every wave. All our sails were draw- ing and we lay over in a smother of foam, our mastheads describing strange curves against the mass of tumbled clouds above us, and our smoke flying to leeward in eddying, attenuated streaks. The sun shone brightly most of the time, but occasionally one of the sudden and violent showers so characteristic of that region drove us all below and turned the gun deck into a heaving, staggering pandemonium. On Friday morning, December 17th, I went on deck just as the first rays of the sun were gilding our mastheads, and far away on our starboard bow was a shadowy blue mass which gradually resolved itself into the hills of Nicaragua. The outline was bold and irregular, but when we had run in within a few miles of the coast we could see that the hills were back from the shore, and that the country near the sea was low and flat. As we approached Grey- town we saw the Atlas boat discharq-ine freisfht into a lighter, and a small iron fruit-boat from 32 OCEAN TO OCEAN Blewfields pitching uneasily at anchor. The big Uner looked very cool and comfortable with her long sweep of shaded deck heaving gently to the swell of the sea, the glittering brass, flapping awnings, and white-coated stewards suggestive of all the luxuries which we had left behind. We sent a whale-boat across to her when we had anchored, and arranged to get some of our men ashore on the tug which handles the lighters, for the bar is a notori- ously bad place, and its passage should only be attempted in small craft under native pilot- ao-e. It was here that Commander Grossman and several men of the '72 expedition were drowned by the overturning of their whale-boat in the surf, others of their party barely escaping with their lives. From our anchorage we could not see Grey- town, which was on a lagoon behind a low, wooded sand-spit, and our view consisted of a few miles of Nicaraguan shore, flat and densely wooded, with a beach upon which a row of foaming breakers was continually visible. Far back inland were a few blue hills of some alti- tude, but the country upon the whole seemed flat and uninteresting. It was extremely hot and a heavy swell from the southeast kept us plunging and rolling uneasily. A few sharks swam lazily about the ship, and they and an occasional gull were the only objects which w»l««^ ^'\^ /.^?^ >1^ NEW YORK TO GREYTOWN 33 varied the monotony of the scene. Our party lounged about in the shade, watching the crew unship the davits on the port side, preparatory to launching one of the two steam cutters which we had on deck, and wishing for speedy deliv- erance from our narrow and unstable quarters. Saturday morning the Greytown tug and lighter came alongside the " Newport," and the transfer of freight and personal effects began. A heavy sea was running and the wind set us across it so that we rolled badly, but suitable tackle was rove and piece after piece was safely swung into the lighter. While this work was in progress the govern- ment tug "San Jacinto" arrived to take the Commissioners ashore, and they and the Chief Engineer were swung down one at a time in a boatswain's chair before an interested and critical audience. When the lighter was loaded most of our party scrambled aboard the tug which had her in tow and we started for shore. The breakers looked so formidable, and we had heard so much said about them, that we anticipated rather an exciting time, but we passed them with very little trouble, those which broke over the boat scarcely wet- ting the floor of the little cabin in which we were. After crossing the bar we turned sharp to the rio[ht and ran to a larsre stern-wheel boat of the Mississippi River type, to which we trans- 3 34 OCEAN TO OCEAN ferred ourselves and our possessions. While this change was being effected we noticed signs of life about a little thatched hut on shore, and presently there emerged from it the first Nicaraguan troops which we had seen. An officer with a machete and three bare- footed soldiers with muskets, who seemed to constitute the garrison, solemnly drew them- selves up and presented arms. We gave them a hearty cheer, upon which they dropped their inoffensive looking weapons in every direction and waved their hats, yelling and grinning in a friendly but unmilitary way. The river boat carried us up the lower San Juan, through dense masses of tropical vegetation and past sandbanks where alligators lay sleeping in the sun, and then, turning into a narrow, crooked channel, emerged into Greytown Lagoon. We stopped a moment at the town and then steamed westward for about a mile and a half to La Fe, a group of buildings belonging to the Canal Company and situated near the end of the canal cutting. Landing at a rotten wharf, we made our way to the big wooden building which had been assigned us for quar- ters, and established ourselves as comfortably as circumstances would permit. The ground floor of the structure was formerly used as a storeroom and above it were two stories of bedrooms opening upon verandas. Years NEW YORK TO GREYTOWN 35 of neglect and a hot, moist climate had badly rotted portions of it, but a little repairing ren- dered it safe, and we found it most useful while we were organizing parties and fitting them for the field. Our chief discomfort arose from the multitude of fleas, whose appetites, whetted by an enforced fast of several years, were abnormal and insatiable. Along the shoreward side of the building a rusty railway track, sustaining a dilapidated push-car, vanished to the northwestward, where a series of widely separated cottages and offi- ces extending from La Fe terminated in the deserted and decaying hospital settlement; and across the track, within a stone's throw of our quarters, was a long, low, one-storied wooden building, which a motley array of cooks and attendants soon converted into a serviceable kitchen and dining room. From our verandah we could look out over Grey- town Lagoon, across a multitude of low sand-spits covered with a growth of scrub, to the open sea where the " Newport " pitched uneasily at anchor; and far to the right the roofs of Greytown gleamed white against a background of green. Three giant dredgers lay rotting in the. lagoon, and the half sub- merged hulks of several lighters, rusty boilers and machinery piled upon the bank, and de- caying buildings, gave an indescribable air of 36 OCEAN TO OCEAN desolation to the scene, despite the forest growth which thrust itself upon us from behind, hiding the boundless swamp which stretches inland from the sandy shore. An old steam launch chartered by the Com- mission made regular trips between La Fe and Greytown, enabling us to get backwards and forwards quickly and to transact business with Commissioners, Chief Engineer, or Chief of Commissary, all of whom were quartered in the town. It rained nearly all the time, some- times with great violence, and the fact that we were supposed to be entering upon the dry season made us appreciate the saying that there are but two seasons on the east coast of Nicaragua, the " wet " and the " wetter." The yearly rainfall varies from two to three hun- dred inches and a precipitation of over eight inches in nine hours has been observed. The population of Greytown consists of for- eign merchants, native Nicaraguans, Jamaica negroes drawn thither by the canal, and Mos- quito Indians, a semi-amphibious race of abo- rigines. These latter are wonderfully skilful boatmen and venture far out to sea in their frail craft under conditions which no ordinary boat could survive. They are natives of the former Mosquito Reservation, now the De- partment of Zelaya, a tract of country about forty-five miles wide extending along the A'EW YORK TO GREYTOWN Z7 shore of the Caribbean Sea from the Rama River on the south to the Wawa River on the north, a distance of about one hundred and sixty- five miles. San Juan del Norte, as the Nicaraguans call Greytown, is built upon the delta plain of the Rio San Juan, which is composed of volcanic detritus brought chiefly from the mountainous regions of Costa Rica by the San Carlos and Serapiqui tributaries. The prevailing northeast trades induce a littoral current which flows slowly along the coast to the southeastward, but its action near shore is more than neu- tralized by a northwestward drift due to wave action, which transports a portion of the material carried by the river and deposits it in the form of curved sand-spits approximately parallel to the mainland. Thus the delta grows but trends to the northward, the spits in course of time joining the main delta plain and enclosing lagoons which gradually clog up with silt and decayed vegetation and become swamps. Grey- town harbor was originally formed by one of these sandy accretions, but the same agencies which produced it have since operated to de- stroy it. In 1832 it was a safe and ample har- bor with an unobstructed entrance nearly two miles wide and thirty feet of water for anchor- age. At the present time it is a shallow lagoon into which sea-going vessels cannot enter. 38 OCEAN TO OCEAN The town itself presents no features of pecu- liar interest; indeed, its similarity to towns in the southern part of the United States and the prevalence of the English tongue rob it of the sleepy charm which attaches to most Central American hamlets and almost make the travel- ler foroet that he has left his native land. There is a plaza, or public square, without which no Nicaraguan town could be complete, and about it and along the broad main street are the principal buildings of the place. These are of wood, one or two stories high, neatly painted and frequently surrounded by tropical foliage. Cocoanut palms nod in the plaza and around the houses, while breadfruit and orange trees thrive wherever utilitarian or artistic considerations have overcome native inertia. Shops are numerous and better stocked than one would expect, while prices, owing to the fact that Greytown is a free port, are very low. A horse-railroad, over which a solitary car makes infrequent trips, traverses the principal thoroughfare, affording transportation facilities which, while poor, seem in excess of the de- mand. That the property is not remunerative may be inferred from the fact that one of our men, his sense of humor stimulated by deep potations, chartered the conveyance for a day for five dollars and, locking himself inside, spent the entire time ridinof to and fro, successfullv NEW YORK TO GREYTOWN 39 maintaining his position against the aggrieved public until the expiration of his lease. While Greytown owes its international im- portance to its prospective value as the eastern terminus of an interoceanic canal, its position at the mouth of the Rio San Juan insures the pas- sage through it of a considerable foreign com- merce. A line of river steamers brings down rubber, coffee, dyewoods, and other products of the country, which are shipped abroad, chiefly by the Atlas Line steamships, and takes back various imported goods for consumption in the interior. Thus the town prospers, according to Central American standards, even while canal construction is at a standstill, but its citi- zens look forward with confidence to a resump- tion of work and a wave of prosperity which shall sweep them on to affluence. When we were there it was a town with a recent com- mercial past, a past in which the canal had seemed a certainty, and in which the three great dredgers now rotting in the lagoon were hard at work, bringing prosperity to every one. The bit of canal three or four thousand feet long, the teredo-riddled jetty, the giant dredgers falling to pieces in the harbor, and the deserted buildings slowly rotting away, are perishing monuments of a brave attempt to pierce the American isthmus. CHAPTER III HISTORICAL AND DIPLOMATIC t I ^HE history of the Mosquito Coast is I largely a history of British preten- -*- sions to territory and sovereignty and of consequent diplomatic controversies. If the prior claim of the aborigines be disregarded. Central America, discovered by Columbus in 1502, explored and colonized by Gil Gonzales Davila and Francisco Hernandez de Cordova, was properly a Spanish possession up to the revolution of 1821. But the natural preference of Spanish settlers for the sunny western slopes left portions of the eastern coast almost unin- habited save by Indians, and invited encroach- ments which were subsequently made the grounds for British claims to territorial rights and sovereignty. Early in the seventeenth century the Caribbean Sea swarmed with Eng- lish, French, and Dutch buccaneers, who, en- couraged while disowned by their governments, hovered among the coral reefs of Central Amer- ica and the West India islands and harassed the commerce of Spain. English freebooters skirted along the Mosquito Shore, cultivated HISTORICAL AND DIPLOMATIC 4 1 the friendship of the fish-eatiiig Moscoe Indians, and finally established headquarters at the mouth of the Wanks or Segovia river and in Blewfields and Pearl lagoons, making allies of the aborigines and forming illicit connections with their women. Thus occurred contempo- raneously the first English occupation of Nica- raguan soil and the initial step in the evolution of the hybrid Mosquito Indian. Events which followed strengthened the bonds of union be- tween the races. The Earl of Warwick, author- ized by Charles I., seized the island of Old Providence, planted a colony upon it, and estab- lished a trading post at Cape Gracias a Dios. Settlers and Indians were soon on cordial terms, and the native king was eventually persuaded to send his son, the heir apparent, to England to be educated. Besides encroaching upon the Nicaraguan coast, the buccaneers landed at Belize and upon the Bay Islands, laying the foundation of future British claims, based, it is true, upon the unauthorized depredations of adventurers, but maintained none the less with unscrupulous diplomacy and a strong hand. Protests of the Spanish Ambassador at the Court of St. James proving ineffective, an ex- pedition was fitted out in San Domingo in 1650 which drove the English from the Bay Islands. The latter retaliated by incursions up the San Juan River, during one of which, in 1655, they 42 OCEAN TO OCEAN actually succeeded in capturing and plundering the city of Granada. In the same year Eng- land secured a foothold on the island of Jamaica and in 1670 she negotiated with Spain the treaty of Madrid, which provided " that the most serene King of Great Britain, his heirs and successors shall have, hold, keep, and enjoy forever, with plenary right of sovereignty, do- minion, possession, and propriety, all those lands, regions, islands, colonies, and places whatsoever, being or situated in the West Indies, or any part of America, which the said King of Great Britain, or his subjects, do at present hold and possess." Up to this time the English Government had disclaimed responsi- bihty for the depredations of the buccaneers, on the ground that they were outlaws, but it now became expedient to recognize them as British subjects, and they were accordingly induced to discard their piratical vocation and to become peaceful cutters of mahogany and dye-woods. Intent upon retaining their territorial acquisi- tions and attendant advantages, they main- tained amicable relations with the Moscoes, whose Indian blood had been further diluted by amalgamation with a shipload of negro slaves wrecked upon the coast in 1650, and even induced Oldman, the prince of English education who had succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father, to acknowledge HISTORICAL AND DIPLOMATIC 43 the sovereignty of Charles II. In return for his complaisance a commission purporting to come from his royal cousin was bestowed upon him and he was ceremoniously crowned with an old cocked hat. The real power over the Mosquito Coast was thus in English hands, but the arrangement had not been officially sanc- tioned and the attitude of the British Govern- ment in case of forcible Spanish intervention was deemed somewhat problematical. To eliminate this uncertainty Jeremy, who suc- ceeded Oldman on the Mosquito throne, was despatched to Jamaica in 1687 to petition the Governor that he, like his father, be taken under the protection of His Majesty's Govern- ment. His mission was unsuccessful, but a sec- ond attempt in 1720 resulted in the negotiation of a treaty whereby a virtual protectorate was established over the Mosquito Coast. England chose to regard the Madrid treaty merely as a recognition of rights already ac- quired by her, and as in no wise constraining her to conform to already established territorial limits. Her woodcutters continued to extend their possessions, confident of the ultimate recognition and protection of the Home author- ities, while Spain, in fancied security, watched successive encroachments without resentment. Upon the approach of war between the two countries, in 1739, the English Government 44 OCEAN TO OCEAN devised a plan of operations against the colo- nies of Spain, involving the seizure of the Mosquito Shore and the invasion of the San Juan valley. Naval operations were begun on the eastern and western coasts, and agents were sent to Belize and the Mosquito Shore to oro-anize the Eng^lish settlers and secure the co-operation of the Indians. Robert Hodgson, agent to Mosquitoland, formally proclaimed an English protectorate, raised the British flag, and procured the ratification of the compact by both parties. Forts were erected, troops were sent over from Jamaica, a colony was estab- lished at the mouth of the Black River, the island of Ruatan was seized, and finally, in 1748, the occupation of the Rio San Juan valley was attempted and would have been accomplished but for the ratification of a treaty of peace between the contending Powers. Mutual restitution of conquests was agreed to, but this seems to have had little influence upon England's subsequent policy. Hodgson re- mained in Mosquitoland as Superintendent of the Shore, protests from the Spanish Govern- ment being met by a statement that his pres- ence among the Indians was necessary to prevent a general massacre of Spaniards. An unsuccessful attack by the latter upon the colonists at Belize, in 1754, was seized upon by the English as a pretext for still further extend- HISTORICAL AND DIPLOMATIC 45 ing their settlements, and in 1756, at the begin- ning of the Seven Years' War, they were practically in possession of the entire eastern shore of Central America. The Treaty of Paris, which put an end to this conflict in 1763, did not pretend to define the sovereign rights of either country on the Mosquito Shore, but it was agreed that Eng- land should demolish such fortifications as she had erected in disputed territory and that in return for this concession, her subjects should be allowed to cut wood unmolested anywhere along the shore. This would seem to be a vir- tual admission by Great Britain that her rights were of a purely usufructuary nature, but tech- nicalities have rarely been allowed to check the growth of powerful nations, nor have con- siderations of equity always outweighed those of expediency in the determination of their foreign policies. Nevertheless, her actions at this time were of a conciliatory nature. An unauthorized and unsuccessful raid by Hodg- son upon the San Juan in 1769 resulted in his recall, and fortifications were destroyed and garrisons removed as had been agreed. The Colonial Ofifice did not recede from its pre- determined policy, however, and in 1775 Mos- quitoland was attached to Jamaica as a dependency. The settlers at Belize had mean- while established and successfully maintained 46 OCEAN TO OCEAN a government of their own, officially recognized by Admiral Burnaby, and the Governor of Jamaica was now directed to watch over the two infant colonies, which Spain was appar- ently willing to relinquish rather than resort to force. But the Spanish colonists were less indifferent and had already attacked the Eng- lish when the outbreak of war, in 1779, aroused Spain to renewed activity. An expedition against Belize was repulsed by the English, who followed up their advantage by again attempting to occupy the San Juan valley and to take Granada and Leon, thus cutting in two the Spanish possessions and gaining per- manent control of what was even then recog- nized as a practicable route for an inter-oceanic canal. The enterprise ended in utter failure, for, although Castillo Viejo was successfully besieged, disease nearly exterminated the Brit- ish forces and necessitated the abandonment of the campaign. Of eighteen hundred men forming the invading army only three hundred survived. This serious misfortune to the Brit- ish arms encourao;ed the Governor of Guate- mala, who organized an expedition, fell upon the Eno-lish colonists and drove them before him. The opportune arrival of reinforcements from Jamaica reversed the situation, however, and the Spanish commander was forced to capitulate on August 28th, 1782. HISTORICAL AND DIPLOMATIC 47 The treaty of Versailles was supposed to settle definitely and forever the rights of Eng- lish settlers in Central America. In it Great Britain explicitly admitted Spain's claim to sovereignty over the entire Isthmus and under- took to confine her own subjects to the settle- ment of Belize, where her riorht of losf-cuttinof was to remain unimpaired. But she took no steps to procure the withdrawal of settlers from the Mosquito Coast and Bay Islands, nor were the Spanish colonial authorities able to do so. In 1786 a supplementary treaty was made, in which England again bound herself to limit her colonists to the settlement of Belize, pro- vided its boundaries were considerably enlarged, — a hard condition to which Spain was obliged to consent. The ratification of this treaty was followed by a general withdrawal of British subjects from Mosquitoland and the establish- ment by the Spanish Government, in 1791, of a port of entry at Greytown ; but the Mosquito Indians, instigated by English traders, refused to recognize the sovereignty of Spain and suc- cessfully resisted all attempts to subdue them. A renewal of hostilities between England and Spain in 1796 encouraged the settlers at Belize, impatient of their territorial limitations, to encroach upon the surrounding country, while the English Government showed that it no longer considered the treaty of 1786 bind- 48 OCEAN TO OCEAN ing by landing several thousand Carib Indians from St. Vincent upon the Bay Islands. The war ended without any other marked change in conditions on the coast, but a subsequent ill-advised attack upon Belize by Guatemalan troops afforded the colonists a pretext for dis- regarding a treaty which the Spanish authori- ties had themselves broken and for advancing across the boundary to the westward and south- ward. By the treaty of Madrid, concluded in 1814, the conventions of 1783 and 1786 were reaffirmed, but while Central American affairs were thus theoretically restored to their former stahis, as a matter of fact England was in actual possession of a greatly increased territory, and the previously uninhabited Bay Islands were occupied by Carib Indians. Moreover, British influence was systematically and persistently directed toward the acquisition of the Mosquito Coast. In 18 1 6 George Frederick, Crown Prince of the Moscoe tribe, was taken to Belize and subsequently to Jamaica and England to complete his education. Upon the death of his father he was ceremoniously crowned at Belize "King of the Mosquito Shore and Nation " and returned to his native land aboard a British man-of-war, only to perish shortly afterwards in a drunken brawl. His half-brother Robert then ascended the throne, but his sympathies were thought to be with HISTORICAL AND DIPLOMATIC 49 the Spaniards and he was accordingly deposed by the colonists, who replaced him with a pure- blooded negro, George Frederick II. After a brief and uneventful reign, this worthy was suc- ceeded by another Sambo king, Robert Charles Frederick, a spendthrift monarch whose will- ingness to barter large tracts of his domain for alcoholic stimulants and gaudy raiment re- sulted in his deportation to Belize, where he died after naming Colonel MacDonald, Super- intendent of Belize, regent of Mosquitoland during the minority of his children. Mac- donalcl deputed Patrick Walker to act in his stead, and the latter soon reorganized the gov- ernment at Blewfields, retaining the emblems of native royalty, but placing the real power in English hands. In the meantime. Sir John MacGregor had obtained from King George Frederick a grant of land south of the San Juan over which Mos- quitoland claimed jurisdiction through alliances with the Poya natives. This grant was sold to an English company, which promptly estab- lished a colony upon it. The next step was to connect the Mosquito Coast settlements with Belize, which was done by seizing and settling the island of Ruatan while Honduras, which had thrown off the Spanish yoke in 1824 and was now a state of the Central American Republic, was occupied with civil strife and 50 OCEAN TO OCEAN unable to offer any opposition. In March, 1835, the EngHsh residents of BeHze estabhshed a colonial government of their own, changed the name of their possessions to British Hon- duras, announced to Guatemala their assump- tion of independence, and in 1840 proclaimed the supremacy of English law in British Honduras, Ruatan, and Mosquitia. Pending an investig-ation of the situation, no formal action was taken by the Home Government, but commanders of war-ships on the West India Station were directed to sustain the action of the colonists should need arise. With the aid of a naval contingent, Macdonald formally occupied Ruatan in 1841, and, con- tinuing along the coast in an English frigate, accompanied by a sloop-of-war flying the Mos- quito flag, stopped at San Juan del Norte and demanded of Colonel Quijano, Commandant of the port, the recognition of the Mosquito King. Quijano very properly refused, where- upon he was seized, transported to an unset- tled portion of the coast, and left to shift for himself. These various indignities were naturally re- sented by the Central American States, but their remonstrances were ignored by Great Britain, while an appeal to the United States during the Jackson administration was dis- missed by the President with the statement HISTORICAL AND DIPLOMATIC 5 I that interference was deemed inexpedient. The fact of the matter seems to have been that the Government was ill-informed as to the actual state of things and fearful of blundering. The annexation of Texas to the United States in 1845 stimulated England in her efforts to dominate the Isthmus. Macdonald, having outlived his usefulness, was recalled, a regular Governor and other colonial officials were sent to Belize, and Guatemala was officially informed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies that the settlement of Belize had become the col- ony of British Honduras, and extended as far south as the Rio Sarstoon. Honduras was told, in the same way, that the Crown recog- nized Macdonald's seizure of Ruatan, and that the island was henceforth to be entirely under British control. In 1847, Lord Palmerston informed the Central American States that the Mosquito Kingdom must be recognized as an independent power under the protection of Great Britain, and that its territory extended " from Cape Honduras down to the mouth of the San Juan "; but Chatfield, in transmitting the message, added that these boundaries were announced "without prejudice to any rights of the Mosquito King south of the San Juan," thus providing an excuse for southerly exten- sion, should it ever be deemed expedient. Of course, this bold assumption of practical sov- 52 OCEAN TO OCEAN ereignty by England evoked a storm of protest from Central America, particularly from Nicar- agua, who was the greatest sufferer, but Great Britain's reply to the demurring State was ready. The war-ship " Alarm " appeared off the port of San Juan, with his Mosquito Majesty aboard, and the Commandante was notified to replace the Nicaraguan flag with the Mosquito ensign and to salute the King. This he refused to do, so the English landed a small force, and performed the ceremony themselves. At a council of the Mosquito nation, held on the 8th of December, 1847, resolutions were adopted calling upon Nicaragua to immediately evacuate the port of San Juan. This demand was carried to the Nicaraguan authorities in the interior by Chatfield, whose absolute refusal to consider any suggestions of arbitration was evidently due to a desire to encourage a resort to arms. Nicaragua placed a small force in the field, intending to defend the port, but before her troops reached their destination, three English war-ships were anchored off the town, which lay completely at their mercy. The native soldiery was obliged to retreat up the river to Sarapiqui, and to remain inactive, while, on the ist of January, 1848, English marines landed, raised and saluted the Mosquito flag, and installed an Anglo-Mosquito government. The name of the port was changed to Greytown, in honor HISTORICAL AND DIPLOMATIC 53 of Governor Sir Charles Grey of Jamaica, to whose endeavors its seizure by the English, in behalf of their hypothetical allies, was largely due. But the British claims were still in need of strengthening, and, as a means towards this end, an armed attack by Nicaraguan troops was cleverly provoked. All that was necessary was the removal of the war-ships, for, no sooner had they gone than the exasperated natives descended the river, and on January loth drove the officials of the new government from the town. This act was stigmatized by Great Britain as an unwarrantable outrage, and, on the 8th of February, the " Vixen " and "Alarm " again took possession of the port. Captain Loch, with two hundred and sixty marines, ^ followed the retreating Nicaraguans" upstream, took the fort at Sarapiqui, and actuall}^ reached and besieged Granada, compelling the Nicar- aguan Government to accept the terms of peace laid down by him. On the 7th of March, Nic- aragua formally and forever relinquished to the Mosquito King the sovereignty which she had claimed over Greytown, and shortly afterwards an English commandant was installed, and the cruisers sailed away. Great Britain's intention of seizing San Juan was known to the United States Government some time before it was carried into effect, but although the Monroe Doctrine had by this 54 OCEAN TO OCEAN time become inextricably interwoven with the fabric of our national life, President Polk de- liberately neglected this excellent opportunity of applying it in the face of actual European aggression. By the time general attention was attracted to Isthmian affairs by the " Com- pania de Transito de Nicaragua," an associa- tion of Northern capitalists, the coup had been accomplished : but the storm of popular indig- nation evoked induced the Polk administration to send a special agent, Mr. Hise, to Central America, giving him, however, so little power that any of his acts might readily be disowned as unauthorized. Quite without instructions, he negotiated a treaty with Nicaragua, directly controverting British claims and giving to the United States or "a company of the citizens thereof " exclusive interoceanic transit rights in return for a formal recognition of Nicar- agua's territorial claims and a promise of pro- tection. The treaty failed of ratification ; indeed, it was never submitted to the Senate ; and an opportune change of administration facilitated a disavowal of the acts of Mr. Hise, and led to the appointment of Mr. E. G. Squier as his successor. Mr. Squier showed himself quite as hostile to British interests as Mr. Hise had been, but he used more judgment in his opposition, and was largely instrumental in procuring a favorable concession for " The HISTORICAL AND DIPLOMATIC 55 American Atlantic and Pacific Ship-Canal Company," an organization in which the " Compania de Transito de Nicaragua " had been merged, and which was controlled prin- cipally by Cornelius Vanderbilt. The conces- sion carried a monopoly of steam navigation on Nicaragua's inland waters, and granted land for purposes of colonization, while by a treaty simultaneously negotiated, the United States agreed to recognize and defend Nicaragua's sovereignty along the entire line of the pro- jected canal. Meanwhile the English, having secured con- trol of the eastern terminus, set about acquiring a dominant position near the proposed western outlet in the Gulf of Fonseca. Their first step was to press an old claim for damages against Honduras, threatening Truxillo with bombard- ment unless immediate payment was made. Anticipating the probable outcome, Mr. Squier concluded a hasty treaty with the Government of Honduras, by which the United States was to acquire land for naval purposes on Tigre Island and for fortifications upon the adjacent shore of the Gulf of Fonseca. Pendino; the ratification of the treaty, Tigre Island was ceded to the United States for eighteen months, giv- ing her, for the time, at least, control of the western terminus as well as of the canal line. Of course this interfered seriously with English 56 OCEAN TO OCEAN projects. The demonstration against Truxillo was abandoned, and Chatfield, who had been insisting upon a settlement of the British claims, hurried to the Pacific coast, where, with the aid of a naval force, he seized upon Tigre Island. Squier immediately asserted the sov- ereignty of the United States and ordered the English to withdraw, a demand which was promptly refused, and which was thereupon repeated with the statement that a failure to comply within six days would be regarded by the United States as an unwarrantable act of aaferession. Matters were thus in a critical state when the situation was relieved by the in- tervention of the Washington government and the negotiation of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, intended to fix definitely and finally the status of the two rival powers in Central America. This treaty resulted directly from the publi- cation of the provisions of the unconfirmed Hise compact, which, by recognizing Nicara- gua's claim to sovereignty from sea to sea, conflicted with the terms of the Loch treaty, urtder which Nicaragua had virtually resigned to England the entire eastern coast. An understanding between Great Britain and the United States became necessary, and Mr. Clayton, Secretary of State under the Taylor administration, embarrassed by the hostility of the Senate, decided to carry on negotiations in HISTORICAL AND DIPLOMATIC 5/ secret until a satisfactory agreement had been reached. He therefore explained his position to the British Minister, offering to abandon the Hise treaty, and to aid in obtaining treaties from Nicaragua favorable to both Powers, provided Great Britain would assume a posi- tion in regard to the Mosquito claim which should prevent its forming an obstacle. Lord Palmerston, to whom this proposition was sub- mitted, responded favorably, the more readily that Mr. Clayton tacitly admitted the British claims to the Mosquito shore, despite earnest protests from Mr. Lawrence, American min- ister to England. To facilitate negotiations, Sir Henry Bulwer was sent as temporary min- ister to Washington. Soon after his arrival he reported to Lord Palmerston that, in his opinion, American interest in the Nicaragua- Mosquito dispute was due to American ownership of a canal concession, and recommended that the Mosquito question be kept distinct from the present discussion, and that American com- merce be granted such privileges as would ensure the ratification of the treaty. Just at this time the unexpected news of the British occupation of Tigre Island aroused the Senate to prompt action upon the Squier treaty, which was at once brought up and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations for immediate consideration. The Committee called for all 58 OCEAN TO OCEAN papers relating to the subject, but Mr. Clayton refused to submit them, upon the plea that negotiations looking; to a settlement of the mat- ter were then in progress. Realizing that his projects would fail unless an agreement was speedily reached, he urged Sir Henry Bulwer to immediate action, and showed an eagerness of which the latter was not slow to avail him- self by stipulating that England should be given an equal voice in the control of the canal, and that she should remain in undis- turbed enjoyment of her rights along the San Juan in return for a disavowal of Chatfield's seizure of Tigre Island. The acts of their bel- ligerent agents in Honduras were thereupon disowned by both governments, and the famous Clayton-Bulwer treaty was drafted, submitted to Lord Palmerston, and signed on the 19th of April, 1850. It was in substance as fol- lows: Neither Great Britain nor the United States shall ever acquire or maintain exclusive control of the canal, nor shall they assume con- trol of, directly or by means of alliances, or protectorates, nor fortify, any part of Central America ; they shall jointly guarantee the neu- trality of the canal, and shall afford protection to any legitimate company undertaking its con- struction : and they shall, in general, protect all lines of interoceanic communication across the Isthmus. The treaty in this form was rati- HISTORICAL AND DIPLOMATIC 59 fied by the Senate, in the beHef that England had abandoned her policy of territorial expan- sion, and stood ready to co-operate with the United States in the establishment and main- tenance of a neutral transit route, but subse- quent correspondence between Mr. Clayton and Sir Henry Bulwer changed the whole aspect of affairs. Sir Henry claimed that the provisions of the convention forbidding colo- nization did not apply to the British settlement in Honduras, or its " dependencies," the Bay Islands and Mosquito Coast, and Mr. Clayton weakly conceded the point, while avoiding a direct admission of England's title to the so- called "dependencies." The treaty, as thus amended, never came before the Senate, and before its promulgation in its original form Mr. Clayton filed the correspondence, which he alone had read, among the archives of the State Department. Thus, as far as the treaty went, England was left in possession of all that she had claimed, while the United States was forever excluded from the Isthmus. Some years elapsed, however, before this was generally known, and meanwhile the Hise and Squier conventions were irrevocably abandoned. Enthusiasts who thought the Central Ameri- can question setded were doomed to speedy disappointment, for hardly had the Clayton- Bulwer agreement been signed when an Eng- 6o OCEAN TO OCEAN lish war-ship landed marines at Greytown. Mr. Chatfield explained this action to the astonished Nicaraguans by asserting that the United States had recognized the sovereignty of the Mosquito King, and he suggested that, as Nicaragua had by the Loch treaty relin- quished all claim to the east coast, her govern- ment would do well to confine its attention to its own territory. But the United States had also to be reckoned with, and the inevitable crisis was precipitated by the action of Anglo- Mosquito customs officials in attempting to collect port dues from an American vessel. Payment was refused, an English man-of-war fired upon the American craft, and our govern- ment promptly called upon Great Britain for an explanation. Lord Granville, who had suc- ceeded Lord Palmerston as Foreign Secretary, disavowed the whole affair, asserting that the commander of the war-ship had acted without orders and that his government would not sustain the claims of the Greytown officials. Thereupon an attempt was made to finally adjust the differences which had arisen, and an agreement was drawn up, subject to the approval of the Central American States con- cerned : but Nicaragua, jealous of certain con- cessions granted to Costa Rica, refused to assent to the conditions, and matters reverted to their former state. HISTORICAL AND DIPLOMATIC 6 1 A new complication arose from England's action in proclaiming, on the seventeenth of July, 1852, " The Colony of the Bay Islands." Since Macdonald's seizure of Ruatan in 1841, British authority in the Islands had been poorly main- tained, and the ratification of the Clayton- Bulwer treaty by England was assumed by the United States to have terminated whatever claims to sovereignty she had ever had. Now, however, during the discussion in the Senate caused by Great Britain's apparent aggression, Sir Henry Bulwer's all-important reservations and Mr. Clayton's note of acceptance were first made public. Popular indignation knew no bounds. Clayton was openly accused of having betrayed his country, and Senators who had voted for the ratification of the treaty asserted that they would never have done so had they known all of its provisions. But the existing situation had to be faced, and as the only solution of the difficulty seemed to lie in proving that neither the Bay Islands nor the Mosquito Coast were " dependencies " of Hon- duras, an attempt was made to do so. After a careful examination of evidence the Com- mittee on Foreign Relations decided that the position was tenable, and a resolution was drafted and passed by the Senate declaring the establishment of an English colony in the Bay Islands, as well as the British claims to the 62 OCEAN TO OCEAN Mosquito Coast, to be in direct violation of the provisions of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty. Another diplomatic agent, Mr. Borland, was sent to the Isthmus, while Mr. Buchanan was entrusted with the task of laying our case before Her Majesty's government and insisting upon English withdrawal from the alleged "dependencies" of British Honduras. Lord Clarendon, then Foreign Secretary, replied that Belize had never been part of Central America, but a British colony; that the Bay Islands were properly a dependency of British Hon- duras ; that the maintenance of a Mosquito protectorate was not at variance with the terms of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, which merely prohibited further colonization by either con- tracting power: and finally, that Her Majesty's Government would not recognize the Monroe Doctrine as based upon any principle of inter- national law, nor submit to further questioning as to her ri