GOVERNORS OF NICARAGUA.
Of affairs in Nicaragua during the eighteenth century little need be said. The administrations of Pablo de Loyala, the first governor of whom we have any record[XXXII‑17] during this period, and of Miguel de Camargo, were uneventful. To Camargo succeeded José Calvo de Lara, and in 1721 appears the name of Sebastian de Aransivia y Sasi, who was superseded in the following year by Antonio Poveda, the latter losing his life during an insurrection of the Indians. In 1728 Tomás Duque de Estrada was appointed to office, and in 1730 Bartolomé Gonzalez Fitoria. In 1744 José A. Lacayo de Briones[XXXII‑18] was in power, and in 1757 Melchor Vidal de Lorca y Villena Vivas was acting governor.[XXXII‑19] In an official report, dated 1759, appears the name of Colonel Pantaleon Ibañez as ruler.
Among the governors of Nicaragua in this period was Alonso Fernandez de Heredia, mariscal de campo of the royal army. As to the precise year authorities differ. Juarros mentions 1760 as the date, while Pelaez states that a report of the guardian of missionaries alludes to him as acting in 1747.[XXXII‑20] Domingo Cabello was governor in 1766, as appears from the audiencia's book of sentences of December in the following year, and Manuel de Quiroga in 1780.
About this time was an eruption of the volcano Nindiri at no great distance from El Infierno de Masaya. In 1775, when the outburst occurred, a torrent of lava rolled into the lake of Masaya, destroying the fish and heating the lands adjacent so that the cattle perished. A brigadier of the royal army, named José Estacheria, was made governor of Nicaragua in 1783, and ruled until 1789, when he departed for Spain. He was afterward appointed governor of Pamplona, and eventually president of Guatemala. The last governor to whom reference is made in the eighteenth century was Juan de Ayza, probably he who defended San Juan[XXXII‑21] during the attack of the British under Polson and Nelson, which will be mentioned later.
The Desaguadero had in 1727 twelve military stations along its winding course of nearly one hundred and twenty leagues. Among these was the castle of San Juan and Fort San Cárlos, which had been captured and restored. Fort San Juan was built at a bend of the river, and could command it from above and below. The hill upon which it stood was steep and rocky, and it could be approached only on one side by a narrow tortuous path. Through this port flowed the commerce of Nicaragua with Europe and the West Indies. It was made a port of entry by royal order of the king in February 1796, and by a cédula of the month following regulations were issued for furthering the settlement of the adjacent country. In 1769 the English, with an armament of two thousand men and fifty vessels, attempted the capture of Fort San Cárlos, which they desired as a basis for future operations. Pedro de Herrera, the governor of the post, lay in the throes of death, and surrender seemed inevitable. But his daughter, a maiden of sixteen, at once issued orders from her father's death-chamber for the defence, and then placed herself at the head of the Spanish troops. Inspired by her fearless mien, the garrison fought with a courage rarely seen among Spaniards of that day, and repulsed the assailants with loss, the governor's daughter firing with her own hand the two last cannon shot at the discomfited British.
A few years later the English government decided on an expedition against Nicaragua, intending to strike a blow at the power of Spain in the heart of her possessions, and control the communication between the two oceans. The plan of operations was finally arranged at Jamaica in January 1780. It was purposed to capture Fort San Juan, take possession of the Desaguadero and Lake Nicaragua, occupy the cities of Granada and Leon, and thus sunder the Spanish provinces of Central America. Another object in view was the capture and retention of the route for an interoceanic canal, a project then dear to the heart of the English nation.
Nelson's and Polson's Expedition, San Juan.
NELSON IN NICARAGUA.
The British force consisted of at least eighteen hundred men,[XXXII‑22] including three regiments of the line and a party of marines, the latter being under command of Horatio Nelson, then a post captain of about twenty-three years, but one who had already given proof of the qualities which afterward raised him to the foremost rank among naval commanders. The English proceeded up the Desaguadero in boats, encountering many difficulties. On a small island named San Bartolomé,[XXXII‑23] in a portion of the stream where the current was swift and shoal, a small garrison had been stationed and earthworks erected, mounted with a few swivel-guns. On approaching this spot Nelson leaped from his boat, followed by a few of his men, and though sinking ankle-deep in the mud and exposed to a hot fire, captured, or, as he expresses it, 'boarded' the island. Here the English remained for a brief rest, and the future hero of Trafalgar narrowly escaped being bitten by a poisonous snake, and afterward suffered severely from drinking the water of a spring into which poisonous leaves had been thrown. The English were now joined by 'George King,' a Mosquito chieftain, and a large number of his subjects, together with several English smugglers.[XXXII‑24] The Mosquitos proved invaluable allies indeed, and but for their bravery and fidelity it is probable the British would have perished to a man.