FILIBUSTERS 



2170 



FILLMORE 



culture, though the fisheries are important. 

 The only wild animals native to the islands are 

 rats, but domestic animals of all kinds have 

 been introduced. 



Until recent years the inhabitants, who were 

 formerly notorious cannibals, adhered to their 

 own pagan religion, the principal feature of 

 which was ancestor worship. So deeply-rooted 

 was cannibalism that for human flesh the Fiji- 

 ans would sacrifice parents or children. The 

 eating of "long pig," as human flesh was 

 called, was a religious duty; so whether the 

 victim happened to be friend or foe was of 

 little importance. The greater number of the 

 natives have now embraced Christianity and 

 have proved themselves quick in adopting civil- 

 ized manners and customs. Only two of the 

 islands are of fair size, Viti Levu, on which 

 stands the capital, Suva, and Vanua Levu. 

 The islands are administered by a governor 

 and council, the native chiefs being given a 

 voice in legislative affairs. Population in 1911, 

 139,541. 



FILIBUSTERS, fil'ibus terz, a name handed 

 down from the buccaneers, or seventeenth cen- 



tury piratical rovers. The term was first ap- 

 plied in America to the adventurers in the 

 middle of the nineteenth century, who organ- 

 ized expeditions in the United States, in de- 

 fiance of international law, to gain control of 

 Cuba and some of the Central American states. 

 In 1853 William Walker of Tennessee made 

 raids into Nicaragua and fomented revolutions, 

 but he was captured in Honduras, court-mar- 

 tialed and shot. 



Filibustering expeditions also sailed from 

 New Orleans to Cuba, led by Narcisco Lopez, 

 but they all came to naught. Such expeditions 

 have become exceedingly rare during the last 

 quarter of a century, the last to be called by 

 that name being the Dr. Jameson raid, which 

 in 1895 tried to overthrow the Boer govern- 

 ment in South Africa. 



The term has come into vogue in more mod- 

 ern times to designate legislative members who 

 are in the minority, who try by making irreg- 

 ular parliamentary and dilatory motions to 

 prevent the adoption of measures favored by 

 the majority. See WALKER, WILLIAM; JAME- 

 SON, LEANDER STARR. 



THE I3 1 * PRESIDENT 



ILL'MORE, MILLARD (1800-1874), thir- 

 teenth President of the United States and the 

 second Vice-President to succeed to that high 

 office through the death of the President. 

 He was therefore one of the so-called "acci- 

 dental Presidents." When Fillmore was nomi- 

 nated for the Vice-Presidency he was known 

 as a prominent Buffalo lawyer; he had served 

 with distinction in the House of Representa- 

 tives, and he was one of the Whig leaders in 

 New York state. No one, least of all he 

 himself, claimed that he was a brilliant lawyer 

 or statesman. He was hard-working and con- 

 scientious, always doing his duty as he saw it 

 and asking no particular credit therefor. This 

 temperament has laid him open to the charge 

 of being uninteresting. He was never spectac- 

 ular or erratic; he was, in fact, the type of 

 man who makes an excellent executive, but 

 only rises to fame by accident. 



Even his enemies admitted his modesty and 

 sincerity, but a simple act, the signing of the 

 Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, cost him his popu- 

 larity. He had the peculiar faculty of detach- 

 ing himself from the burning issues of the 

 day, and of viewing them in calmness and with- 

 out passion. In a sense, therefore, it is true 

 that he had little to do with the important 

 events of his administration, but it must not 

 be forgotten that he did impress his per- 

 sonality on the men with whom he came into 

 contact. Men like Clay and Webster were 

 great admirers of Fillmore, and Clay on his 

 deathbed recommended the nomination of 

 Fillmore in 1852 for the next Presidential term. 



Early Hardships. The casual observer who 

 watched Fillmore grow to manhood would 

 scarcely have suspected that here was a boy 

 who was destined to be President of the United 

 States at one of the most critical periods in 



