An officer of the United States corvette Saint Mary's, which had been some time lying at San Juan, came on the 24th to Mora's headquarters to solicit in the name of Commander Charles H. Davis a truce of six hours, which was granted, for the removal from Rivas of the women, children, and other non-combatants. Walker, becoming apprised by that officer of the failure of Lockridge's attempt to succor him, signified a willingness to capitulate, not to the general-in-chief of the besieging forces, as was natural, but to commander Davis. To this Mora assented, in order to bring the war to an end at once, and save himself from certain complications he apprehended.[XVII-48] The capitulation being signed and carried out, Walker and sixteen officers, after bidding adieu to the army on the 1st of May, departed under the escort of Zavala, for San Juan del Sur, where they embarked on the Saint Mary's.[XVII-49] Davis then delivered the city of Rivas to Mora, and the rest of Walker's men, about 400 in number, were transported to the United States.[XVII-50]
The war being ended, the allied troops retired to their respective states. But prior to their departure there was an affair which might have ended in a sanguinary conflict had it not been for the prudent course pursued by most of the generals. The trouble arose from the hot-headedness of Zavala, the commander of the Guatemalans, who had been led to believe, by an evil counsellor, that the government would not return him some arms he had lent, nor furnish him transportation, nor even pay him the honors due his rank. All this was unfounded, but he maltreated the officer of the guard at the government house, and grossly insulted the president, his ministers, and others, threatening to hang them on the church of La Merced. His conduct was violent and scandalous.[XVII-51] Máximo Jerez and hundreds of soldiers rushed to the government's defence, and there would have been bloodshed but for Barrios of Salvador, who had command of 1,800 men, and prevailed on Zavala to go back to Chinandega, whence he marched to Guatemala, where he was received with the honors he had fairly won.
Mora returned to Costa Rica, leaving the command in charge of Cañas. It is said that he had planned to extend the boundaries of Costa Rica to the lake, which he deemed an easy undertaking, as the Costa Ricans had the lake steamers, and the Nicaraguans would be sure to break out into civil war.[XVII-52] War was declared by Costa Rica against Nicaragua on the 19th of October, 1857, and accepted by the latter in defence of her territory.[XVII-53] But upon a second invasion by Walker, peace was concluded on the 16th of January, 1858.[XVII-54]
SECOND AND THIRD EXPEDITIONS.
Walker arrived safely in his own country. But he was not yet satisfied with the misery and desolation he had wrought upon a foreign and unoffending people. He must play the vampire further; he must conquer Nicaragua and be a great man. Taking advantage of the rupture between this republic and Costa Rica, he prepared another expedition, with which, eluding the vigilance of the United States authorities, he sailed from New Orleans for San Juan del Norte. He was arrested, however, at Punta de Castilla, December 8th, and sent back by Commodore Paulding, commanding the American home squadron.[XVII-55] The officer's course obtained the highest commendation and gratitude in Central America, and particularly in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the latter conferring upon him high honors. Loyal men who took up arms in the country's defence were also rewarded.[XVII-56] But like a wild beast maddened by its wounds, Walker was still bent on blood, if blood were necessary to subjugate Central America to his will. He fitted out a third expedition, and landing with its avant guard at Trujillo on the 6th of August, 1860, seized the funds of the custom-house, which were pledged to the British government for the payment of Honduras' indebtedness to its subjects.[XVII-57] The British war vessel Icarus entered the port on the 20th, and her commanding officer, Norwell Salmon, demanded that Walker should forthwith leave the place, which he did, fleeing to the eastern coast, where he and his men underwent the utmost suffering in that uninhabited marshy region. A party of Hondurans harassed them, and Walker was wounded in the face and leg. Finally, General Mariano Álvarez arrived with a Honduran force at Trujillo, and together with Salmon proceeded to the mouth of Rio Tinto, arriving there on the 3d of September. Walker surrendered to the Icarus, and was turned over to Álvarez, who had him tried at Trujillo by court-martial. He was sentenced to death, and executed on the 12th of September. Thus ended on the scaffold the career of William Walker, filibuster, pirate, or what you will.[XVII-58]
The provisional government of Nicaragua on the 14th of January, 1857, organized a consultive council of five members and three substitutes,[XVII-59] which was installed on the 20th. To that body were referred the strictures of ministers Cardenal and Castillo, upheld by General Martinez, the two former having resigned their portfolios because the president had declined to transfer the seat of government to the eastern department.[XVII-60] The council did not approve of their course, and suggested that Martinez, under a clause in the agreement of September 12, 1856, should summon R. Cortés and P. J. Chamorro to fill the vacancies in the cabinet. It does not appear, however, that Martinez took any steps in that direction.
The old dissensions which Walker's war had kept in abeyance now threatened to break out afresh. Legitimists and democrats alike saw in bloodshed and desolation the only means to settle their differences. Martinez and Jerez, with some of their friends from the east and west, and assisted by General Gerardo Barrios, commissioner of Salvador, labored in vain to effect an amicable arrangement.[XVII-61] Jerez concluded that the only recourse now left to avert a war was for himself and Martinez to assume the responsibility of jointly governing the country dictatorially until it could be again placed under a constitutional régime. This plan being accepted, the two leaders organized themselves, on the 24th of June, into a junta de gobierno, otherwise called Gobierno Binario, which was recognized by both parties, and the dreaded calamity of war was avoided. The organization was completed with the appointment of Gregorio Juarez and Rosalío Cortés as the cabinet. Martinez and Jerez continued at the head of affairs until the 19th of October, when war with Costa Rica having been accepted, they resolved to assume personal direction of military operations, and resigned the executive office into the hands of the ministers. Martinez was then made general-in-chief of the forces, with ample powers, and Jerez second in command.[XVII-62]
REORGANIZATION OF GOVERNMENT.
The first acts of the new government were to reconstitute the supreme and other courts, and to summon the people to choose a constituent assembly for framing a constitution,[XVII-63] and a president of the republic. At the suggestion of Cortés, and with the assent of Jerez, Tomás Martinez was named to the people as a proper person for the executive office, and he was elected almost unanimously.[XVII-64] He took the oath of office on the 15th of November, promising to pursue a policy of peace and conciliation,[XVII-65] and appointing Juarez, Macario Álvarez, and Cortés, his ministers respectively for foreign relations, treasury, and government.[XVII-66] During his first term there were several changes in the personnel of the cabinet.[XVII-67]
Martinez' administration not only gave Nicaragua the longest period of internal peace she had ever had, but promoted her prosperity in every branch, and notably in finances. At the time of its inauguration, the government had not one hundred dollars in the treasury. The liberating army had not been paid during the late war, and the only way to adjust the arrears was by issuing warrants, which the merchants soon got possession of at sixty to eighty per cent discount, and returned to the treasury at par in payment of import duties on merchandise, thus greatly reducing the revenue from that source. The government also adopted the unusual course of assuming to indemnify private persons for the losses they had sustained during the civil war, those resulting from the burning of Granada included.[XVII-68] And yet Martinez, after his victory of April 29, 1863, against the united forces of Salvador and Honduras, succeeded within six years in doubling the amount of public revenues, and in arranging for the payment of the foreign debt.