FILLIBUSTERS
FI’LLIBUSTERS, another name for the piratical adventurers whose origin and history are treated of under BUCANEERS (q. v.). Recently it has become familiar to English ears as the designation of certain lawless adventurers belonging to the United States, who have attempted violently to possess themselves of various countries in North America. The plea urged by these persons has generally been, that such countries were a prey to anarchy and oppression, and could only attain to prosperity by annexation to the United States, and the introduction of ‘ democratic ‘ institutions—amongst which, strange to say, slavery stands prominent. The most notorious of these flllibusters was the late William Walker, whose expedition against Nicaragua in 1855 was so far successful that he kept his ground in that country for nearly two years. At last, he was driven out by a combination of the various states of Central America. He was subsequently captured and shot, September 12, 1860, at Truxillo, in Central America, in the course of another piratical expedition.