130 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



of the company's operators and that flotsam and jetsam of 

 wanderers who gather at pioneer posts, had sprung into 

 existence. 



In an altercation between some Mosquito Indians and 

 Americans an Indian was killed, and the smouldering antip- 

 athies of the two towns began to blaze. An Anglo-Mos- 

 quito mob attacked the house of the American consul, and 

 the sailors of an American ship in the harbor came to their 

 countryman's rescue. A pitched battle ensued. When the 

 news reached Washington a gunboat was despatched to the 

 scene and indemnity was demanded from the Anglo-Mosquito 

 authorities. Upon their refusal to consider such a propo- 

 sition, the American gunboat proceeded to bombard and 

 destroy Grey town. This passage at arms did not help 

 to relieve the diplomatic situation between England and 

 the United States; nor, indeed, was the general situation 

 in Nicaragua improved by events which immediately fol- 

 v \ lowed. An American citizen named Walker gathered about 

 himself, in the Southern states, a band of followers who were 

 desirous of adventure, and, finding his opportunity in one 

 of the periodical civil wars in Central America, he made a 

 bold dash for the city of Granada, and soon placed himself 

 in control of Nicaragua. He was supported for a time by 

 one of the warring factions of this turbulent republic, but his 

 filibustering expedition, ostensibly carried out in the in- 

 terest of the United States, was, in reality, for the purpose 

 of extending the area of African slavery. 



In every possible manner Walker antagonized British 

 ; interests in Nicaragua, and the belief became general in 

 England that the United States sought to acquire a Central 

 American state. A counter military demonstration, on the 

 part of Costa Rica, created the suspicion in America 

 that England was covertly taking a part in these struggles 

 along the canal route; and this belief elicited for Walker a 

 larger measure of sympathy throughout the United States 

 than he would have otherwise received. The Government 

 at Washington finally went to the length of receiving a 

 diplomatic agent, representing the Walker government at 



