This Week in Texas Methodist History  April 23

Advocate Promotes Evangelization of Mexico and Central America but Decries Filibusters 1855

One of the attractions of Texas for Methodists in the 19th century was our state's proximity to Mexico and Central America.  Texas often depicted as the gate way through which Mexico and Central America were to be converted from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism.   Eventually Laredo did become the main portal to northern Mexico.  After rail connections to Laredo were established in the early 1880s and Laredo Seminary was established, the MECS established a number of schools and at least one hospital in northern Mexico.  Excursion trains from San Antonio through Laredo to visit these mission institutions became common for Epworth League groups in the 1890s.  Much of the motivation for the interest was the prevailing anti-Roman Catholic prejudices that prevailed among many Methodists of the era.  The stereotyped views of Catholicism were often of a priestly conspiracy that kept their church members in ignorance and superstition and would not allow them access to the Bible.  

In the 1850s two developments increased American interest in not just Mexico, but also of Central America.  The first was the increasing number of gold seekers transiting Central America on their way to California.  The other was the filibustering expeditions of William Walker and Henry Kinney.

Kinney was well known in Texas and was given credit for founding the town of Corpus Christi.  There is even a county named for him.  I will not go into the complicated history of filibustering in the 1850s, but in summary, both Kinney and Walker attempted to set themselves up as dictators of Nicaragua.  

The editors of the Texas Christian advocate were appalled---not necessarily because they opposed filibustering in general, but because the private military forces hired by Kinney and Walker would turn the population against all Americans---and hinder Protestant missionary efforts.  

What advice did the Advocate give?   Go to Costa Rica instead of Nicaragua.  Then, as through much of Central American history, Costa Rica was seen as an oasis of stability in a desert of despotism---land a country ripe for evangelization by Protestants.