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Transcriber's Note:

     Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
     been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

     In some cases, Bancroft uses both "u" and "v" to spell an
     author’s name, e.g. Vetancurt and Vetancvrt.

     Other archaic letter substitutions include "b" for "v" and "i" for
     "y" and vice versa. These have been left as printed.

     Possible printer's errors include:
          On page 5, córtes extraordinary should possibly be córtes
            extraordinarias.
          On page 149, Patsun should possibly be Patzún.
          On page 270, quarters should possibly be halves.
          On page 387 repeated should possibly be repealed.
          On page 652, 1855-5 appears to be an error.
          Joaquin Eufracio Guzman should possibly be Joaquin Eufrasio
            Guzman.
          Joaquin Eustacio Guzman should possibly be Joaquin Eufrasio
            Guzman.
          The index reference to "Atrato River" wasn't found.
          The index reference to "Montaiglon, M. de, works of," wasn't
            found.

     Possible alternate spellings or printers errors include:
     Jutecalpa and Jutigalpa
     Tempsky and Tempski
     Blazquez and Blasquez
     Savana and Sabana
     Sutiaba and Subtiaba
     Pontaz and Pontaza
     Mourgeon and Murgeon
     Iztapan and Iztapam
     Serapiqui, Sesapiqui, Sarapiqui River
     Carataska and Caratasca
     Gualcince and Gualcinse
     Nandaime, Nandayme, and Nandaimé
     mosquitoes and musquitoes
     Cuzcatlan and Cuscatlan
     Granadans and Granadians
     Chimilapa and Chimalapa
     Fitzroy and Fitz-Roy
     Victor and Víctor
     Jil and Gil
     Carlos and Cárlos
     Quiroz and Quiróz
     Angel and Ángel
     Vijil and Vigil
     Jerardo and Gerardo

     Italics in the footnote citations were inconsistently applied
     by the typesetter.

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     Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.

     This volume contains references to the previous seven volumes
     of this work.

     They can be found at:

     Volume 1: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41070/41070-h/41070-h.htm
     Volume 2: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42808/42808-h/42808-h.htm
     Volume 3: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43123/43123-h/43123-h.htm
     Volume 4: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44104/44104-h/44104-h.htm
     Volume 5: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/45268/45268-h/45268-h.htm
     Volume 6 (Volume 1 of the History of Central America):
               http://www.gutenberg.org/files/58658/58658-h/58658-h.htm
     Volume 7 (Volume 2 of the History of Central America):
               http://www.gutenberg.org/files/58669/58669-h/58669-h.htm

     THE WORKS
     OF
     HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT.

     VOLUME VIII.
     HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA.

     VOL. III. 1801-1887.

     SAN FRANCISCO:
     THE HISTORY COMPANY, PUBLISHERS.
     1887.

     Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1887, by
     HUBERT H. BANCROFT,
     In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

     All Rights Reserved.

CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME.

     CHAPTER I.

     LAST DAYS OF SPANISH RULE.
     1801-1818.

                                                                  PAGE

     Popular Feeling in Central America—Effect
     of Events in Spain—Recognition of American
     Equality—Representation in the Spanish
     Córtes—Delusive Reforms—End of Saravia's
     Rule—President José Bustamante—His Despotic
     Course—Demands in the Córtes—Constitutional
     Guarantees—Official Hostility—Campaign in
     Oajaca—Revolutionary Movements in Salvador—War in
     Nicaragua—Conspiracy in Guatemala—Treatment of
     the Insurgents—Disrespect to the Diputacion—The
     Constitution Revoked—Royal Decrees                              1

     CHAPTER II.

     INDEPENDENCE ACHIEVED.
     1818-1821.

     President Cárlos Urrutia—His Liberal
     Views—Colombian Assaults—Spanish Constitution
     Restored—The Gazistas, or Bacos—The Cacos—José del
     Valle—Pedro Molina—Liberal Institutions—Extent
     of the Political Government—Ecclesiastical
     Administration—Work of American Deputies—Party
     Excitement in Guatemala—Urrutia Delegates his
     Powers—Substitute President Gavino Gainza—Chiapas
     and her Government—She Secedes from Spain and
     Joins the Mexican Empire—Guatemala Declares for
     Independence—Junta Gubernativa—Convocation of a
     Congress                                                       23

     CHAPTER III.

     UNION WITH MEXICO.
     1821-1822.

     First Acts of Guatemalan Rulers—Intrigues
     of Parties—Their Evil Consequences—Gainza's
     Intrigues—Independence in the Other Provinces—Rewards
     to Gainza—Troubles in Salvador—Dissensions in
     Honduras—Local Squabbles in Nicaragua—Predilection
     for Imperialism—Costa Rica Neutral—Condition
     of Various Sections—Seceding Districts
     of Guatemala—Perplexities of the Junta
     Consultiva—Iturbide's Devices—Military Pressure—His
     Proposals Accepted—Illegal Annexation—Protests and
     Resistance—War Begins                                          42

     CHAPTER IV.

     CENTRAL AMERICAN CONFEDERATION.
     1822-1825.

     Secession from Mexico—Arzú's Campaign—Prevarication
     of Salvador—Filisola's Victory—His Subsequent
     Course—Liberal Triumph in Costa Rica—Honduras
     Favors Union—National Independence Secured—Labors to
     Organize a Nation—The Constituent Assembly—Provincias
     Unidas del Centro de América—Abolition of African
     Slavery—Provisional Government—Moderados or
     Serviles—Liberales or Fiebres—Principles and
     Aims of Parties—Mexican Forces Retire—Seditions
     Begin—Salvadoran Force in Guatemala—Confederacion de
     Centro América—Fundamental Law—Finances—Adjournment
     of the Constituent Assembly                                    60

     CHAPTER V.

     CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT.
     1825-1830.

     General Elections—Meeting of the First
     Congress—Manuel José Arce, First President
     of the Republic—Foreign Relations—Arce's
     Prevarications—Conflict with Guatemala—Party
     Bickerings—Liberals Quarrel with Arce—He Joins their
     Opponents—Bitterness Engendered—President versus
     Guatemalan Rulers—Arrest of Jefe Juan Barrundia—Riots
     at Quezaltenango—Murder of Vice-jefe Cirilo
     Flores—Arce as Dictator in Guatemala—War against
     Salvador—Arce Defeated—He Gives up the Presidency,
     and Cannot Recover It—Bloody War of 1826-9—Morazan
     the Victor—José Francisco Barrundia, Acting
     President—Liberal Measures—Peace Restored—Spanish
     Schemes                                                        79

     CHAPTER VI.

     CIVIL WAR.
     1829-1838.

     Revolution in Honduras—Conservatives Invade the
     State—Second General Elections—Francisco Morazan
     Chosen President—Plots of the Serviles—Arce's
     Invasion from Mexico—Occupation of Honduras Ports by
     Exiled Rebels—Spanish Flag Hoisted in Omoa, and Aid
     from Cuba—Salvadoran Authorities in Rebellion—Third
     General Elections—Morazan Reëlected—Failure of
     Colonization Plans—Ravages of Cholera—Indian Revolt
     under Carrera—His Early Life                                  108

     CHAPTER VII.

     DISSOLUTION OF THE REPUBLIC.
     1837-1840.

     Campaign against Carrera—Several Departments of
     Guatemala in Rebellion—Jefe Galvez Deposed—Carrera
     Takes Guatemala—Murder of Salazar—Carrera Accepts
     Money to Leave the City—Dictatorship Offered
     Morazan by the Aristocrats and Refused—Carrera's
     Second Rebellion—The Republic in Peril—Morazan's
     Efforts to Save It—Nicaragua and Honduras Forces
     Invade Salvador—Morazan Defeats Them—His Retreat
     to San Salvador—He Embarks—Is Refused Hospitality
     in Costa Rica—Goes to South America—The Republic is
     Dead—Salvador at the Mercy of Carrera                         127

     CHAPTER VIII.

     GUATEMALA AND HONDURAS.
     1824-1840.

     State Government of Guatemala—Barrundia's
     Radicalism—His Overthrow—Vice-jefe Flores
     Assassinated in Quezaltenango—Downfall
     of the Liberals in Guatemala—Aristocratic
     Leaders Exiled—Jefe Molina—His Differences,
     Impeachment, and Acquittals—Rivera Cabezas'
     Reforms—Earthquakes—Galvez' Rule and its
     Benefits—Party Opposition to Him—Indian
     Outbreaks—Carrera Captures Guatemala—Galvez
     Resigns—Subsequent Rule of the Aristocrats—Guatemala
     again Independent—Honduras' State Government—Jefe
     Dionisio Herrera—Early Dissensions—Comayagua
     Assaulted by Rebels—Morazan in the
     Field—Honduras Secedes from the Central American
     Confederation—Federalism Rooted out of her Territory          145

     CHAPTER IX.

     SALVADOR, NICARAGUA, AND COSTA RICA.
     1824-1840.

     Salvador State Government—Liberals
     Overthrown—Secession from the Union—San Salvador as
     the Federal Seat of Government—Guatemala Imposes her
     Will—Jefe Cañas and Comandante Malespin—Nicaragua's
     Early Troubles—Siege and Bombardment of
     Leon—Organization of State Government—Dissensions
     and Warfare—Eruption of Cosigüina—Secession from
     the Confederation—Costa Rica as a Confederated
     State—Juan Mora's Administration—Towns' Bickerings
     Settled—Braulio Carrillo's Rule—Final Secession from
     the Central American Republic—Prosperity of the State         165

     CHAPTER X.

     DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION.
     1839-1852.

     Interstate Dissensions—Pacto de
     Chinandega—Confederacion Centro Americana—Supremo
     Delegado Chamorro—Hostility of Guatemala and
     British Officials—Arce Invades Salvador—War of
     the Confederacy against Guatemala—Helplessness of
     Chamorro—End of the Pacto de Chinandega—Condition of
     the States—Ferrera's Bad Faith—Salvador and Honduras
     against Nicaragua—Horrors of Leon—Vice-president
     Joaquin E. Guzman—Honduras and Salvador at
     War—Guardiola's Vandalism—Malespin Overthrown—Renewed
     Efforts to Confederate—Guatemala an Independent
     Republic—Costa Rica Follows—Salvador, Nicaragua,
     and Honduras a Confederacy—Its Short Life—Further
     Unsuccessful Attempts                                         186

     CHAPTER XI.

     REPUBLIC OF COSTA RICA.
     1841-1856.

     Rule of Carrillo Continued—Plots
     for its Overthrow—Invasion of
     Morazan—Change of Government—Morazan's
     Policy—Opposition—Revolts—Morazan's Defeat and
     Death—Satisfaction of the Oligarchs—Measures
     of the Victors—New Constitution—Subsequent
     Amendments—Sedition—Castro's Administration—Costa
     Rica Declared a Republic—Recognition by
     Spain—Relations with Other Powers—Boundary Questions
     with Nicaragua and Colombia—President Juan Rafael
     Mora—His Repressive Measures                                  215

     CHAPTER XII.

     REPUBLIC OF NICARAGUA.
     1838-1855.

     State Government—Director Buitrago's
     Conservatism—British Aggression—Director
     Sandoval's Rule—Internal Troubles—Guerrero's
     Administration—The Mosquito Kingdom—Its Origin
     and History—Bubbles—British Pretensions—Seizure
     of San Juan del Norte—Diplomatic
     Complications—Clayton-Bulwer Treaty—Nicaragua
     Recovers her Own—Relations with Foreign
     Powers—An American War Ship Bombards San Juan
     del Norte—Pineda's Government—Establishment of
     the Republic—Party Dissensions—Legitimists versus
     Democrats—Chamorro and Castellon—Civil War—Death of
     Chamorro—Estrada Succeeds Him                                 238

     CHAPTER XIII.

     REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA.
     1840-1865.

     President Rivera Paz—Carrera's Course—Pretended
     Sedition—Dissolution of the Assembly—A
     Consejo Constituyente Created—Carrera Becomes
     President—Attempt against his Life—Revolt of
     Monterrosa—Carrera's Despotism—The Republic
     Established—Relations with Other Powers—Revolution of
     the Mountain—Constituent Assembly Convened—Carrera's
     Forced Resignation and Exile—Liberals
     Triumphant—Their Squabbles and Disintegration—The
     Moderado Party—Revolution of Los Altos—Intrigues
     of the Serviles—Presidencies of Martinez and
     Escobar—Causes of their Resignations—Paredes—Recall
     of Carrera—Deeds of Vengeance—Carrera again
     President—Partial Restoration of Peace                        264

     CHAPTER XIV.

     REPUBLIC OF SALVADOR.
     1839-1865.

     Malespin's Acts—Lindo's Coup d'Etat and Deposal—Jefe
     Guzman—Revolt at Santa Ana—President Aguilar—The
     Bishop Expelled—Viteri's Alliance with Malespin and
     Honduran Oligarchs—President Vasconcelos—British
     Hostilities—Salvador's Relations with Foreign
     Powers—San Martin's Administration—Destruction of
     San Salvador—President Campo—Campaign against Walker
     in Nicaragua—Establishment of the Republic—Santin's
     Overthrow—Presidency of Gerardo Barrios—War
     of Salvador and Honduras against Guatemala
     and Nicaragua—The Latter Victorious—Barrios'
     Flight—Restoration of Peace—Dueñas as
     President—Barrios' Subsequent Return—His Capture and
     Surrender by Nicaragua—His Execution in San Salvador          285

     CHAPTER XV.

     REPUBLIC OF HONDURAS.
     1840-1865.

     President Ferrera—Revolutionary Movements—Political
     Executions—Presidency of Juan Lindo—New
     Constitution—Lindo Overthrown—Belize—Honduras'
     Troubles with Great Britain—British
     Occupation of Tiger Island—Bombardment of
     Omoa—Bay Islands—President Cabañas—War with
     Guatemala—Guardiola's Assassination—Provisional
     Rules of Castellanos and Montes—Alliance with
     Barrios—Unsuccessful War with Guatemala and
     Nicaragua—Montes Deposed—Establishment of the
     Republic—José M. Medina Chosen President—Amendment of
     the Constitution                                              309

     CHAPTER XVI.

     WALKER'S CAMPAIGN IN NICARAGUA.
     1855-1856.

     Kinney's Expedition—William Walker Joins the
     Democrats—Failure of his Expedition to Rivas—Cholera
     Decimates the Legitimists at Managua—Death
     of Muñoz—Walker's Victories at La Vírgen and
     Granada—Execution of Minister Mayorga—Walker's
     Convention with Corral—Provisional Government
     Organized—President Patricio Rivas—Commander of
     the Forces, Walker—Minister of War Corral Put
     to Death for Treason—Recognition by Salvador
     and Honduras—Seizure of the Transit Company's
     Steamers—Costa Ricans on the War-path—Havoc of
     Cholera                                                       327

     CHAPTER XVII.

     END OF FILIBUSTERING IN CENTRAL AMERICA.
     1856-1867.

     Recognition of President Rivas by the United
     States—Walker's Hostile Attitude—Flight of
     Rivas—Walker Makes Himself President—Alliance
     against Him—Death of Estrada—The Legitimists
     Accept Rivas—Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans in
     Rivas—Destruction of Granada—It is Occupied by
     Allied Forces—Walker Reoccupies Rivas—Where He is
     Besieged—Successes of the Costa Ricans—Failure of
     Lockridge's Expedition—Surrender of Walker—War
     of Nicaragua and Costa Rica—Commodore Paulding
     and Walker's Second Attempt—Walker's Invasion
     of Honduras, Capture, and Execution—Government
     Reorganized—President Martinez' Administrations               347

     CHAPTER XVIII.

     POLITICAL EVENTS IN COSTA RICA.
     1856-1886.

     Rewards to Walker's Conquerors—Reëlection of
     Mora—His Downfall and Exile—His Return, Capture,
     and Execution—Montealegre's Administration—Violence
     of Parties—Compromise on Jesus Jimenez—His Peaceful
     Rule—President José M. Castro—Charges against
     Him—His Overthrow—Several New Constitutions—Jimenez
     again President—His Arbitrary Acts—How He was
     Deposed—President Carranza—Other Temporary
     Rulers—President Guardia's Despotism—Failure of his
     Warlike Plans—His Death—Administration of Próspero
     Fernandez—Preparations to Defend Independence—His
     Sudden Death—Bernardo Soto's Peaceful Rule                    371

     CHAPTER XIX.

     DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS IN SALVADOR.
     1865-1885.

     Rule of President Dueñas—His Conservatism—Quarrel
     with Honduras—The Latter Allied with Salvadoran
     Liberals—Battle of Santa Ana—Dueñas Deposed—His
     Impeachment, Release, and Temporary Exile—Santiago
     Gonzalez Provisional President—Gonzalez Elected
     Chief Magistrate—Guatemala and Salvador at
     War with Honduras—Murder of Vice-president
     Mendez—Earthquakes—President Valle—Trouble with
     Guatemala—Exeunt Valle and Gonzalez—Zaldívar's Long
     Rule—Constitutional Changes—Alliance with Nicaragua
     and Costa Rica—Resistance to Barrios' Plan of
     Conquest—Salvador Victorious—Restored Peace—Zaldívar
     Eliminated—Revolution—F. Menendez Made President              392

     CHAPTER XX.

     DEMOCRACY RESTORED IN GUATEMALA.
     1865-1873.

     President Cerna's Rule—Partial Revolts—Liberals
     in the Assembly—Cerna's Reëlection—Riots in
     the Capital—Zavala's Course—Cruz' Rebellion,
     Defeat, and Death—Arrests of Liberals—Moderation
     of the Government—Revolution of García
     Granados and Barrios—Plan of Patzicia—Cerna
     Defeated and Overthrown—Granados as Presidente
     Provisorio—Seditious Movements Quelled—Abolition of
     Priestly Privileges—Prelates, Jesuits, and Capuchins
     Expelled—War with Honduras—Barrios as Substitute
     President—His Severity—Elections—Barrios Chosen
     Constitutional President                                      413

     CHAPTER XXI.

     RENEWED EFFORTS FOR CENTRAL AMERICAN UNITY.
     1873-1885.

     President Barrios of Guatemala—End of Reactionary
     War—Guatemalan Progress—War with Salvador and
     Honduras—Barrios' Successes and Generosity
     to the Vanquished—Constitutional Régime in
     Guatemala—Barrios' Reëlections—His Visit to the
     United States—Peaceful Effort to Unite Central
     America—Resort to Arms—Alliance of Guatemala and
     Honduras—Barrios Attacks Salvador—His Defeat and
     Death—His Plan Abandoned—M. L. Barillas, Provisional
     President of Guatemala—Restoration of Peace                   431

     CHAPTER XXII.

     HONDURAS AFFAIRS.
     1865-1886.

     National Flag and Escutcheon—Order of Santa
     Rosa—Medina's Long Rule—His Differences with Dueñas,
     and Triumph—War with Salvador and Guatemala—Medina
     Defeated and Overthrown—Céleo Arias Succeeds Him—His
     Liberal Policy—He is Beset by the Conservatives—His
     Former Supporters Depose Him—Ponciano Leiva Becomes
     President—His Course Displeases Barrios, Who Sets
     Medina against Him—He is Forced to Resign—Marco
     Aurelio Soto Made President by Barrios—Attempted
     Revolt of Ex-president Medina—His Trial and
     Execution—Soto's Administration—He Goes Abroad—His
     Quarrel with Barrios, and Resignation—President
     Bogran—Filibustering Schemes                                  453

     CHAPTER XXIII.

     POLITICAL AFFAIRS IN NICARAGUA.
     1867-1885.

     President Fernando Guzman—Insurrection—Misconduct
     of Priests—Defeats of the Insurgents—Foreign
     Mediation—Generosity of the Government—President
     Vicente Quadra—Inception of the Jesuits—Aims of
     Parties—Internal and Foreign Complications—Costa
     Rica's Hostility and Tinoco's Invasion—Presidents
     Chamorro and Zavala—More Political Troubles—Jesuits
     the Promoters—Their Expulsion—Peace Restored—Progress
     of the Country—President Adan Cárdenas—Resistance to
     President Barrios' Plan of Forced Reconstruction              470

     CHAPTER XXIV.

     INDEPENDENCE OF THE ISTHMUS.
     1801-1822.

     Administration under Spain—Influence of
     Events in Europe and Spanish America on the
     Isthmus—Hostilities in Nueva Granada—Constitutional
     Government—General Hore's Measures to Hold
     the Isthmus for Spain—MacGregor's Insurgent
     Expedition at Portobello—Reëstablishment of the
     Constitution—Captain-general Murgeon's Rule—The
     Isthmus is Declared Independent—Its Incorporation
     with Colombia—José Fábrega in Temporary Command—José
     María Carreño Appointed Intendente and Comandante
     General—Abolition of African Slavery                          488

     CHAPTER XXV.

     DIVERS PHASES OF SELF-GOVERNMENT.
     1819-1863.

     Panamá Congress—Provincial Organizations—Alzuru's
     Rebellion and Execution—Secession from Colombia
     and Reincorporation—Differences with Foreign
     Governments—Crime Rampant—Summary Treatment
     of Criminals—Riots and Massacre of Foreign
     Passengers—Attempts to Rob Treasure Trains—Neutrality
     Treaties—Establishment of Federal System—Panamá
     as a State—Revolutionary Era Begins—A Succession
     of Governors—Seditious Character of the Negro
     Population—Revolution against Governor Guardia and
     his Death—Another Political Organization—Estado
     Soberano de Panamá—Liberal Party in Full
     Control—Stringent Measures                                    510

     CHAPTER XXVI.

     FURTHER WARS AND REVOLUTIONS.
     1863-1885.

     Presidents Goitia, Santa Coloma, and Calancha—Undue
     Interference of Federal Officials—Colunje's
     Administration—President Olarte's Energy—Enmity
     of the Arrabal's Negroes—Short and Disturbed
     Rules of Diaz and Ponce—President Correoso—Negro
     Element in the Ascendent—Conservatives Rebel, and
     are Discomfited—Armed Peace for a Time—Feverish
     Rules of Neira, Miró, Aizpuru, Correoso, and
     Casorla—Cervera's Long Tenure—Temporary Rule of Vives
     Leon—President Santodomingo Vila—Obtains Leave of
     Absence—Is Succeeded by Pablo Arosemena—Aizpuru's
     Revolution—Arosemena Flees and Resigns—Outrages at
     Colon—American Forces Protect Panamá—Collapse of
     the Revolution—Aizpuru and Correoso Imprisoned—Chief
     Causes of Disturbances on the Isthmus                         532

     CHAPTER XXVII.

     CENTRAL AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS.
     1886.

     Extent of the Country—Climate—Mountains and
     Volcanoes—Earthquakes—Rivers and Lakes—Costa Rica's
     Area, Possessions, and Political Division and
     Government—Her Chief Cities—Nicaragua, her Territory,
     Towns, and Municipal Administration—Honduras' Extent,
     Islands, Cities, and Local Government—Salvador, her
     Position, Area, Towns, and Civil Rule—Guatemala's
     Extent and Possessions—Her Cities and Towns—Internal
     Administration—Isthmus of Panamá—Area, Bays,
     Rivers, and Islands—Department and District Rule—The
     Capital and Other Towns—Population—Character and
     Customs—Education—Epidemics and Other Calamities              560

     CHAPTER XXVIII.

     THE PEOPLE OF COSTA RICA, NICARAGUA, AND SALVADOR.
     1800-1887.

     Central American Population—Its Divisions—General
     Characteristics and Occupations—Land Grants—Efforts
     at Colonization—Failure of Foreign Schemes—Rejection
     of American Negroes—Character of the Costa Rican
     People—Dwellings—Dress—Food—Amusements—Nicaraguan
     Men and Women—Their Domestic Life—How They Amuse
     Themselves—People of Salvador—Their Character and
     Mode of Living                                                587

     CHAPTER XXIX.

     THE PEOPLE OF HONDURAS AND GUATEMALA.
     1800-1887.

     Amalgamation in Honduras—Possible War of
     Races—Xicaques and Payas—Zambos or Mosquitos—Pure
     and Black Caribs—Distinguishing Traits—Ladinos—Their
     Mode of Life—Guatemala and her People—Different
     Classes—Their Vocations—Improved Condition of the
     Lower Classes—Mestizos—Pure Indians—Lacandones—White
     and Upper Class—Manners and Customs—Prevailing
     Diseases—Epidemics—Provision for the Indigent                 608

     CHAPTER XXX.

     INTELLECTUAL ADVANCEMENT.
     1800-1887.

     Public Education—Early Efforts at Development—Costa
     Rica's Measures—Small Success—Education in
     Nicaragua—Schools and Colleges—Nicaraguan
     Writers—Progress in Salvador and Honduras—Brilliant
     Results in Guatemala—Polytechnic School—Schools of
     Science, Arts, and Trades—Institute for the Deaf,
     Dumb, and Blind—University—Public Writers—Absence of
     Public Libraries—Church History in Central America
     and Panamá—Creation of Dioceses of Salvador and
     Costa Rica—Immorality of Priests—Their Struggles for
     Supremacy—Efforts to Break their Power—Banishments of
     Prelates—Expulsion of Jesuits—Suppression of Monastic
     Orders—Separation of Church and State—Religious
     Freedom                                                       621

     CHAPTER XXXI.

     JUDICIAL AND MILITARY.
     1887.

     Judicial System of Guatemala—Jury Trials in the
     Several States—Courts of Honduras—Absence of
     Codes in the Republic—Dilatory Justice—Impunity
     of Crime in Honduras and Nicaragua—Salvador's
     Judiciary—Dilatory Procedure—Codification of Laws
     in Nicaragua—Costa Rican Administration—Improved
     Codes—Panamá Courts—Good Codes—Punishments
     for Crime in the Six States—Jails and
     Penitentiaries—Military Service—Available Force of
     Each State—How Organized—Naval—Expenditures—Military
     Schools—Improvements                                          638

     CHAPTER XXXII.

     INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS.
     1800-1887.

     Early Agriculture—Protection of the Industry—Great
     Progress Attained—Communal Lands—Agricultural
     Wealth—Decay of Cochineal—Development of Other
     Staples—Indigo, Coffee, Sugar, Cacao, and
     Tobacco—Food and Other Products—Precious Woods
     and Medicinal Plants—Live-stock—Value of Annual
     Production in Each State—Natural Products of
     Panamá—Neglect of Agriculture—Mineral Wealth—Yield
     of Precious Metals—Mining in Honduras, Salvador,
     and Nicaragua—Deposits of Guatemala and Costa
     Rica—Mints—Former Yield of Panamá—Mining Neglected on
     the Isthmus—Incipiency of Manufactures—Products for
     Domestic Use                                                  650

     CHAPTER XXXIII.

     COMMERCE AND FINANCE.
     1801-1887.

     Early State of Trade—Continued Stagnation
     after Independence—Steam on the Coasts—Its
     Beneficial Effects—Variety of Staples—Ports
     of Entry and Tariffs—Imports and
     Exports—Fairs—Accessory Transit Company—Internal
     Navigation—Highways—Money—Banking—Postal
     Service—Panamá Railway Traffic—Local Trade of the
     Isthmus—Pearl Fishery—Colonial Revenue in Finances of
     the Federation—Sources of Revenue of Each State—Their
     Receipts and Expenditures—Foreign and Internal Debts          663

     CHAPTER XXXIV.

     INTEROCEANIC COMMUNICATION.
     1801-1887.

     Ancient Ideas on the North-west Passage—From
     Peru to La Plata—Cape Horn Discovered—Arctic
     Regions—McClure's Successful Voyage—Crozier's
     Discovery—Franklin's Attempts—Finding by
     Nordenskiöld of the North-east Passage—Projects to
     Unite the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the
     Isthmuses—Plans about Tehuantepec—Explorations for a
     Ship-canal Route in Nicaragua, Panamá, and Darien—The
     Nicaragua Accessory Transit Company—Construction of
     the Panamá Railway, and its Great Benefits—Further
     Efforts for a Canal—Organization of a French
     Company—A Ship-canal under Construction
     across the Isthmus of Panamá—Difficulties and
     Expectations—Central American Railroads and
     Telegraphs—Submarine Cables                                   688

HISTORY

OF

CENTRAL AMERICA.

CHAPTER I.

LAST DAYS OF SPANISH RULE.

1801-1818.

     POPULAR FEELING IN CENTRAL AMERICA—EFFECT OF EVENTS IN
     SPAIN—RECOGNITION OF AMERICAN EQUALITY—REPRESENTATION
     IN THE SPANISH CÓRTES—DELUSIVE REFORMS—END OF SARAVIA'S
     RULE—PRESIDENT JOSÉ BUSTAMANTE—HIS DESPOTIC COURSE—DEMANDS
     IN THE CÓRTES—CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEES—OFFICIAL
     HOSTILITY—CAMPAIGN IN OAJACA—REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN
     SALVADOR—WAR IN NICARAGUA—CONSPIRACY IN GUATEMALA—TREATMENT
     OF THE INSURGENTS—DISRESPECT TO THE DIPUTACION—THE
     CONSTITUTION REVOKED—ROYAL DECREES.

The opening century was pregnant with important events both in Europe
and America. By 1808 affairs in Spain culminated in the French
emperor's detention of the king and other members of the royal
family at Bayonne, where he forced them finally to resign in his
favor their rights to the Spanish crown. The circle surrounding the
captain-general, audiencia, and archbishop of Guatemala was made up,
not only of European Spaniards, but of Guatemalans belonging to the
so-called noble families. Popular displeasure was manifested both
against the Spaniards and against the provincial aristocracy.[I-1] The
oligarchy was hated throughout the province of Guatemala proper, and
still more in the other provinces of the presidency.

However, when the news of Napoleon's usurpation reached America, it
caused a strong revulsion of feeling in Central America, as well as
elsewhere in the Spanish dominions, even among the large class which
had hitherto secretly fostered a warm desire for independent national
existence. Creoles of pure Spanish descent, though yearning to be
free from the old thraldom, could not bring themselves to discard the
country which gave them blood, religion, and civilization. As to the
educated Indians, who were also among the wishers for independence,
like all of their race, they looked up to the ruling power with
reverence and fear. Thus arose a struggle between the old veneration
and the love of freedom; a struggle which was to last in Central
America a few years longer, though the people were becoming more and
more impatient, while leaning to the side of independent nationality.
Circumstances seemed to demand that the old connection should not be
ruptured till 1821, when decisive results in New Spain brought on the
final crisis here. When the news of Napoleon's acts of violence and
usurpations reached Guatemala, popular loyalty was aroused, and showed
itself in various ways. Manifestations by the authorities, expressive
of fealty to the mother country and the royal family, met with an
apparently hearty response from the people.

Advices came on the 30th of June, 1808, of the occurrences at
Aranjuez of March 19th.[I-2] July passed amid much anxiety about
affairs in Spain, and the public mind became depressed by unfavorable
news received on the 13th of August. Next day, at a meeting of the
authorities,[I-3] the state of affairs was anxiously discussed.
The mariscal de campo, Antonio Gonzalez Mollinedo y Saravia, had
succeeded Dolmas on the 28th of July, 1801, in the offices of governor,
captain-general, and president of the audiencia. He had seen forty
years of service in the royal armies,[I-4] and had with him his wife,
Micaela Colarte, and offspring.[I-5]

[Sidenote: SARAVIA AND FERNANDO VII.]

President Saravia read to the meeting a despatch from the viceroy of
Mexico, and a copy of the _Gaceta_ giving an account of the abdication
of Fernando VII., and of the surrender by other members of the royal
family of their rights to the Spanish crown. After due consideration,
the meeting declared these acts to have resulted from violence, being
therefore illegal and unjust, and not entitled to recognition. It
was further resolved that the authorities and people should renew
their allegiance to the legitimate sovereign, continue upholding the
laws hitherto in force, and maintain unity of action, for the sake of
religion, peace, and good order. Instructions were received[I-6] to
raise the standard of Fernando VII., and swear allegiance to him, which
were duly carried out.[I-7]

The opportunity has now arrived for a radical change in the political
status of Spanish America. The colonies have hitherto had no
government, save that of rulers set over them by a monarch whose
will was absolute, whose edicts constituted their code of laws; the
subject being allowed no voice in public affairs, save occasionally as
a timid petitioner. But troubles beset Spain at this time. Her king
is powerless; the friends of constitutional government have now the
control, and proceed to establish the desired liberal régime. In order
to be consistent, and to some extent satisfy the aspirations of their
fellow-subjects in America, the provisional government decrees, and the
córtes upon assembling confirm, all the rights claimed for Spaniards
dwelling in Spain, together with representation in the córtes and other
national councils.

The Junta Suprema Central Gubernativa in the king's name declares on
the 22d of January, 1809, the Spanish possessions in America to be, in
fact, integral parts of the monarchy,[I-8] and, approving the report of
the council of the Indies of November 21, 1808, in favor of granting
to the American dominions representation near the sovereign, and the
privilege of forming by deputies a part of the aforesaid junta, issues
to the president of Guatemala an order to invite the people of the
provinces to choose their deputy to reside at court as a member of the
governing junta.[I-9] On the 3d of March, 1810, the electors assembled
in Guatemala and chose for deputy the colonel of militia, Manuel José
Pavon y Muñoz.[I-10] The powers given him by his constituents were
general, but enjoined allegiance to the king and permanent connection
with the mother country.[I-11]

[Sidenote: DIPUTACION AMERICANA.]

The supreme government, early in 1810, in its anxiety to be surrounded
by the representatives of the people, hastened the convocation of
córtes extraordinary. Fearing, however, that there might not be a
sufficient number chosen for their timely attendance at the opening of
the session, it apprised the provincial authorities, reiterating the
decree a little later,[I-12] that deficiencies would be temporarily
supplied until regularly elected deputies presented themselves to
occupy their seats in the chamber. Guatemala, in common with the rest
of America, was unable to send her deputies in time, and had to be
represented at the inauguration by suplentes, or proxies. These[I-13]
were Andrés del Llano, a post-captain, and Colonel Manuel del Llano.
One of the first acts of the córtes[I-14] was to confirm the principle
that all the Spanish dominions possessed the same rights, promising
to enact at an early day laws conducive to the welfare of the American
portion, and to fix the number and form of national representation in
both continents.

At the suggestion of the diputacion americana, as the body of American
members was called, a general amnesty for political offences was
decreed, with the expectation of its yielding the best results in
favor of peace and conciliation. Promises of reform, and of better
days for Central America, were held out, but the provincial government
paid little attention to them. Meanwhile a jealous and restless police
constantly watched the movements of suspected persons. Informers and
spies lurked everywhere, seeking for some one against whom to bring
charges.

The promised blessings proved delusive. Instead of reforms, the people
witnessed the installation of a tribunal de fidelidad, with large
powers, for the trial and punishment of suspected persons.[I-15] This
court was short lived, however, being suppressed about the middle of
the following year, under the order of the supreme government, dated
February 20, 1811. And thus Guatemala was kept quiet and apparently
loyal, when the greater part of Spanish America was in open revolt.

Saravia's rule came to an end on the 14th of March, 1811. He was
promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general, and appointed by the
government at Cádiz to the command in chief of the forces in Mexico.
On his arrival in Oajaca, the viceroy, who was chagrined at his powers
having been thus curtailed, detained him at that place. In November
1812, the city being captured by the independents, Saravia was taken
prisoner and shot.[I-16]

[Sidenote: BUSTAMANTE Y GUERRA.]

The successor of Saravia was Lieutenant-general José Bustamante y
Guerra, appointed by the supreme council of regency, and soon after
confirmed by the córtes generales extraordinarias. He was a naval
officer, and had made several important cruises in the cause of
science,[I-17] and latterly had been civil and military governor of
Montevideo, a position that he filled efficiently. His zeal against the
independents in that country pointed him out as the one best fitted to
retard the independence of Central America. On his return to Spain from
South America he refused to recognize Joseph Bonaparte.

Bustamante is represented to have been an inflexible, vigilant,
and reticent ruler. He lost no time in adopting stringent measures
to check insurrections, and displayed much tact in choosing his
agents and spies. No intelligent native of the country was free from
mistrust, slight suspicion too often bringing upon the subject search
of domicile, imprisonment, or exile. He never hesitated to set aside
any lenient measures emanating from the home government in favor
of the suspected, and spared no means that would enable him, at the
expiration of his term, to surrender the country entire and at peace
to his superiors. He was successful, notwithstanding there were several
attempts at secession.

Meanwhile the American representatives had been permitted to lift
their voice in the national councils. They had called attention to
the grievances of their people. In a long memorial of August 1, 1811,
to the córtes, they had refuted the oft-repeated charge that the
friends of independence in America were or had been under Napoleonic
influence. They set forth the causes of discontent,[I-18] which they
declared was of long standing, and called for a remedy. Reference was
made to Macanar's memorial to Felipe V.,[I-19] wherein he stated that
the Americans were displeased, not so much because they were under
subjection to Spain, as because they were debased and enslaved by the
men sent out by the crown to fill the judicial and other offices.[I-20]

The organic code was finally adopted on the 18th of March, 1812.[I-21]
The instrument consisted of ten titles, divided into chapters, in
their turn subdivided into sections, and might be considered in two
parts: 1st, general form of government for the whole nation, namely, a
constitutional monarchy; 2d, special plan for the administration of the
Indies.[I-22]

[Sidenote: NEW ORGANIC CODE.]

In lieu of the old ayuntamientos, which were made up of hereditary
regidores, whose offices might be transferred or sold, others were
created, their members to be chosen by electors who had been in their
turn chosen by popular vote. The ayuntamientos were to control the
internal police of their towns, their funds, public instruction within
their respective localities, benevolent establishments, and local
improvements. They were to be under the inspection of a diputacion
provincial, formed of seven members, elected by the above-mentioned
electors, in each province, under the presidency of the chief civil
officer appointed by the king; the chief and the diputacion were
jointly to have the direction of the economical affairs of the
province. No act of either corporation was final till approved by
the national córtes. In America and Asia, however, owing to great
distances, moneys lawfully appropriated might be used with the assent
of the chief civil authority; but a timely report was to be made
to the supreme government for the consideration of the córtes. Such
were the chief wheels in the machinery of provincial and municipal
administration. Now, as to popular rights, equality of representation
in the provinces of the Spanish peninsula, Asia, and America was
fully recognized. The descendants of Africans were alone deprived of
the rights of citizenship. This exclusion was combated with forcible
arguments by many of the American deputies setting forth the faithful,
efficient services colored men had repeatedly rendered and were still
rendering to the nation, and their fitness for almost every position.
Many of them, they said, had received sacred orders, or had been
engaged in other honorable callings, in which they had made good
records; besides which, they comprised a considerable portion of the
useful mining and agricultural population. Unfortunately for the negro
race, the American deputies were not all of one mind. Larrazábal,
from Guatemala, probably acting both on his own judgment and on the
opinion expressed in 1810 by the real consulado, asserted the black
man's incapacity, advocating that persons of African blood should
be conceded only the privilege of voting at elections. This motion
was supported by a Peruvian deputy. The peninsular members favored
the admission to full rights of colored priests, and all colored men
serving in the royalist armies. The measure was lost, however; but the
article as passed authorized the admission to full political rights, by
special acts of the córtes, of colored men proving themselves worthy
by a remarkably virtuous life, good service to the country, talents,
or industriousness, provided they were born in wedlock, of fathers
who had been born free, married to free-born wives, and were residents
of Spanish possessions, practising some useful profession and owning
property.

Pursuant to the constitution, the córtes ordered, May 23, 1812,
elections for members to the ordinary córtes of 1813.[I-23]

The constitution was received at Guatemala on the 10th of September,
1812, proclaimed on the 24th, and its support solemnly sworn to by the
authorities and people on the 3d of November, with great satisfaction
and evidences of loyalty. Gold and silver medals were struck off to
commemorate the event.[I-24]

The installation of the córtes took place, with the apparent approval
of Guatemala. The president, members of the audiencia, and other
dignitaries who had thriven under absolutism, looking on Americans
as 'our colonists,' became at once liberals and constitutionalists,
pretending to recognize the wisdom of the national congress in
declaring that the Americans were no longer colonists, but citizens
of one common country. Their manifestation of September 15, 1812, was
followed three days after by one from the ayuntamiento of Guatemala
to Deputy Larrazábal, in the same strain, suggesting the creation of a
board advisory to the córtes, on the reino de Guatemala legislation.

[Sidenote: EXPEDITION TO OAJACA.]

After the fall of Oajaca during the Mexican war of independence, the
patriot chief Morelos regarded the rear of his military operations as
secure. Sympathizing messages had reached him from men of weight in
Guatemala, which lulled him into the belief that attack need not be
apprehended from this quarter. To Ignacio Rayon he wrote: "Good news
from Guatemala; they have asked for the plan of government, and I'll
send them the requisite information." It was all a mistake. His cause
had friends in Central America, and enemies likewise. Among the most
prominent of the latter were Captain-general Bustamante and Archbishop
Casaus. The ecclesiastic, with a number of Spanish merchants from
Oajaca who had sought refuge in Guatemala, prompted the general, then
anxious to avenge the execution of his predecessor, to fit out an
expedition, invade Oajaca, and harass the insurgents even at the gates
of the city.

About 700 men, mostly raw recruits, were accordingly put in the field,
early in 1813, under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Dambrini, a
man of little ability and unsavory record, and crossed the line into
Tehuantepec. Dambrini could not abandon his money-making propensities;
and having been led to believe he would encounter but little or no
resistance, took along a large quantity of merchandise for trading. On
the 25th of February a small insurgent force was captured in Niltepec,
and Dambrini had its commander, together with a Dominican priest and
twenty-eight others, shot the next day. This was the usual treatment of
prisoners by both belligerents. But on April 20th the Guatemalans were
flanked and routed at Tonalá by the enemy under Matamoros. Dambrini
fled, and his men dispersed, leaving in the victors' possession their
arms, ammunition, and Dambrini's trading goods. The fugitives were
pursued some distance into Guatemalan territory.[I-25]

Germs of independence, as I have said, were fostered in secret by
the more intelligent, and slowly began to develop, the movement being
hastened by a few enthusiasts who were blind to the foolhardiness of
their attempt. The government tried all means to keep the people in
ignorance of the state of affairs in Mexico and South America, and when
unsuccessful, would represent the royalist army as victorious. Other
more questionable devices were also resorted to.[I-26]

Undue restraint and ill treatment, as practised under the stringent
policy of Bustamante, soon began to produce effects. Restiveness and
despair seized a portion of the people; the hopes for a government more
consonant with the spirit of the age, which had been held out from
Spain, evaporated. Men were unwilling to live longer under the heel
of despotism; and the more high-spirited in Salvador and Nicaragua
resolved to stake their fortunes upon a bold stroke for freedom.
It was, indeed, a rash step, undertaken without concert, and almost
without resources. It could but end as it did at every place where a
revolutionary movement was initiated.

Matías Delgado and Nicolás Aguilar, curates of San Salvador, Manuel and
Vicente Aguilar, Juan Manuel Rodriguez, and Manuel José Arce were the
first to strike the blow for Central American independence. Their plan
was carried into execution on the 5th of November, 1811, by the capture
of 3,000 new muskets, and upwards of $200,000 from the royal treasury
at San Salvador. They were supported by a large portion of the people
of the city, and in Metapan, Zacatecoluca, Usulutan, and Chalatenango.
But other places in the province of Salvador, namely, San Miguel, Santa
Ana, San Vicente, and Sonsonate, renewed their pledges of fealty to the
government, declaring the movement for freedom a sacrilege.[I-27]

The promoters of the revolt, which had been started in the king's name,
became disheartened and gave up further effort, and with the dismissal
of the intendente, Antonio Gutierrez Ulloa, and other officials, peace
was soon restored. San Salvador had been quiet without other government
than that of alcaldes during the disturbance.

[Sidenote: AYCINENA IN SALVADOR.]

Upon the receipt of the news of these occurrences, Bustamante
despatched Colonel José de Aycinena with ample powers to take charge
of the intendencia, and restore quiet. He had been getting troops ready
to send down, but by the mediation of the ayuntamiento of Guatemala he
had suspended preparations, and had adopted the former course. A member
of that body, José María Peinado, was associated with Aycinena.[I-28]
They reached San Salvador on the 3d of December, amid the acclamations
of the fickle populace; their presence and the exhortations of the
missionaries checked all revolutionary symptoms. The authors of the
revolt were leniently treated under a general amnesty.[I-29] Peinado
was a short time after appointed Aycinena's successor as acting
intendente.[I-30]

Another and a still more serious attempt at revolution, which may be
called a sequel to that of Salvador, had its beginning in the town of
Leon, Nicaragua, on the 13th of December, 1811, when the people deposed
the intendente, José Salvador. This action was seconded on the 22d at
Granada, where the inhabitants, at a meeting in the municipal hall,
demanded the retirement of all the Spanish officials. The insurgents,
on the 8th of January, 1812, by a coup-de-main captured Fort San
Cárlos. The officials fled to Masaya. Villa de Nicaragua—the city of
Rivas in later times—and other towns at once adopted the same course.

Early in 1812, after the first excitement had become somewhat allayed,
a board of government was organized in Leon, the members of which
were Francisco Quiñones, Domingo Galarza, Cármen Salazar, and Basilio
Carrillo. Bishop Fray Nicolás García Jerez was recognized as gobernador
intendente by all the towns, and his authority was only limited in one
point, namely, he was in no way to favor the deposed officials. The
people of Granada resolved to send two deputies to the board.[I-31]

[Sidenote: REVOLUTION IN NICARAGUA.]

The royal officials at Masaya having called for assistance from
Guatemala, Bustamante had 1,000 or more troops placed there under
command of Sargento Mayor Pedro Gutierrez. The people of Leon had ere
this accepted an amnesty from Bishop Jerez, and thereafter took no part
in movements against the crown. Granada, more firm of purpose, resolved
upon defence; caused intrenchments to be built to guard all avenues
leading to the plaza, and mounted thereon twelve heavy cannon. A
royalist force, under José M. Palomar, on the 21st of April approached
Granada to reconnoitre, and reached the plazuela de Jalteva.[I-32]
Early in the morning he opened a brisk fire on the town, and kept it
up for several hours. After a parley, next day the citizens agreed
to surrender, on Gutierrez solemnly pledging the names of the king
and Bustamante, as well as his own, that they should in no wise be
molested. But after the royal troops were allowed to enter the city on
the 28th, Bustamante, ignoring the solemn guarantees pledged by his
subordinate, ordered the arrest and prosecution of the leaders. The
governor accordingly named Alejandro Carrascosa fiscal to prosecute the
conspirators of Granada. The proceedings occupied two years, at the end
of which the fiscal called for, and the court granted, the confiscation
of the estates, in addition to the penalties awarded to those found
guilty. Sixteen of the prisoners, as heads of the rebellion, were
sentenced to be shot, nine were doomed to the chain-gang for life, and
133 to various terms of hard labor.[I-33] The sentence of death was
not carried out, however. The condemned were taken to Guatemala, and
thence transported to Spain, where the majority died as exiles. Four
others were removed as convicts to Omoa and Trujillo. The survivors
were finally released by a royal order of June 25, 1817.[I-34]

The conduct of the Leonese in leaving Granada to bear alone the
consequences of the revolution had, as I remarked, a bad effect upon
the country.[I-35] From that time dates a bitter feeling between Leon
and Granada, and between Managua and Masaya on the one part and Granada
on the other.[I-36]

Notwithstanding the existing grievances and the generally depressed
condition of business, the people did not fail to respond to the calls
from the home government upon all parts of the Spanish dominions
for pecuniary aid to meet the enormous expenses of the war against
Napoleon's forces, and other pressing demands. In 1812 there were
collected and remitted as donations $43,538. The citizens of San
Salvador also agreed to give $12,000 for 1812, and an equal sum
in 1813, if they could obtain a certain reform for the benefit of
indigo-planters.[I-37]

[Sidenote: FANATICISM.]

We have seen how the first steps toward independence failed. Nor
could any other result have been expected from the degraded condition,
socially and intellectually, of the masses. The people were controlled
by fanaticism, in abject submission to king and clergy. Absurd
doctrines and miracles were implicitly believed in; and every effort
made to draw the ignorant people out of that slough was in their
judgment treason and sacrilege, a violation of the laws of God, an
attempt to rob the king of his rights; certain to bring on a disruption
of social ties, and the wrath of heaven. The lower orders had been
taught that freedom signified the reign of immorality and crime,
while fealty to the sovereign was held a high virtue. Hence the daily
exhibitions of humble faithfulness, the kneeling before the images of
the monarch and before their bishops, and the more substantial proof of
money gifts to both church and crown.[I-38]

The first efforts on behalf of emancipation were not wholly lost, as
they led to definitive results in the near future. The next attempts
also met with failure, and brought upon their authors the heavy hand of
Bustamante. The first one, in 1813, was known as the Betlen conspiracy,
which derived its name from the convent where the conspirators usually
assembled. Much importance was given to this affair by the government
and the loyalists. The meetings were presided over by the sub-prior
Fray Ramon de la Concepcion, and were sometimes held in his cell,
and at others in the house of Cayetano Bedoya, under the direction of
Tomás Ruiz, an Indian.[I-39] All were sworn to secrecy, and yet the
government suspected the plot, and arrested some persons who had the
weakness to divulge the plan and the names of their associates.[I-40]

The conspirators, all of whom were men of character and good standing,
soon found themselves in prison, excepting José Francisco Barrundia,
who remained concealed six years, and afterward was one of the most
prominent statesmen of Central America. Major Antonio del Villar was
commissioned fiscal to prosecute the prisoners. He spared no one in
his charges, and managed to bring into the meshes of the prosecution
several persons who were innocent.[I-41] On the 18th of September,
1814, he asked the military court for the penalty of death, by
garrote, against Ruiz, Víctor Castrillo, José Francisco Barrundia
pro contumacia, and Joaquin Yúdice, who were hidalgos; and the same
penalty, by hanging, against the sub-prior and ten others who were
plebeians.[I-42] Ten years of hard labor in the chain-gang of the
African possessions, and a life exile from America, were pronounced
upon others against whom no guilt was proved. The prisoners were all
set free, however, in 1819, under a royal order of the 28th of July,
1817.

[Sidenote: THE PLOT OF BETLEN.]

Among the men regarded as the most dangerous, and strongly suspected of
being the real managers of the Betlen plot, was Mateo Antonio Marure,
who had been confined two years in a dungeon for the part he took in
the disturbances of 1811.[I-43] Bustamante dreaded his presence in
Guatemala, and in 1814 despatched him as a prisoner to the supreme
council of regency in Spain, with his reasons for this measure. After
recounting the Betlen affair, and naming Marure as the real instigator
and manager of it, he adds that the conspirators counted on him as a
fearless man to carry it out, and that his bold language and writings
rendered his sojourn in America a constant menace to Spanish interests.

Another and a worse planned attempt at revolution than the one of
1811 occurred in Salvador in 1814. The government quelled it, and the
promoters were arrested, Manuel José Arce suffering an imprisonment of
several years.[I-44]

The reader's attention is now called to matters concerning the
capitanía general of Guatemala, which occupied the government both here
and in Europe immediately before King Fernando's coup-d'état.

Bustamante, evidently hostile to constitutional government, and loath
to suffer readily any curtailment of his quasi-autocratic powers,
proclaimed, under the pressure of necessity, the national constitution,
and permitted elections under it; but between this and allowing the
diputaciones provinciales and ayuntamientos free action under the
fundamental law, there was a wide chasm. He had no intention of tamely
submitting to such innovations, whatever might be said of their merits
in the abstract. In the first place, he postponed for three whole
months the installation of the diputacion, and when it was installed,
refused to honor the event with a high mass and te deum, which would
have been the proper thing to do. Such a recognition of the importance
of the diputacion might have shaken the faith of the populace in a
one-man power. He next insisted on the diputacion having its sittings
at the government house, where it would be at his mercy. He treated
the body disrespectfully in several ways,[I-45] and as he could not
make it subservient to his will, tried by all means in his power to
destroy its influence and usefulness. In fact, he looked upon it as
a mere consultative corporation, whose advice he might ask for or
not, as suited his fancy. Lastly, he would not permit the acts of the
diputacion to be published; and for the matter of that, there was no
liberty of the press.

[Sidenote: END OF BUSTAMANTE'S RULE.]

These complaints were laid before the national córtes[I-46] for
redress, coupled with a petition that the royal authority should remove
Bustamante from office. But grievances were unredressed, and their
author continued wielding power in the country several years more.
Indeed, this was not to be wondered at. The Spanish government had
rarely, if ever, shown inclination to do justice to the ruled against
the high rulers it placed over them, or to punish the despotic acts
of the latter. Residencias had of late become mere matters of form. If
the complainants had wealth and influence at court, they might obtain
the recall of the ruler obnoxious to them, but no other punishment.
The prestige of authority must be upheld; such was the principle acted
upon.[I-47] Guatemala was finally relieved of Bustamante's hated rule
on the 28th of March, 1818.

The people of Central America, like the rest of the Spanish dominions,
were soon invited to another view in the political kaleidoscope.
Fernando VII., upon his release by Napoleon a few months after the
treaty of Valençay,[I-48] returned to Spain without delay, and on
arriving at Valencia, issued his manifesto of May 4, 1814, setting
aside the constitution, and assuming the authority of an absolute
sovereign. He did this with fair promises, which he carried out
when and how it suited him.[I-49] Among many decrees issued by the
monarch soon after, which were of interest to Central America, was one
enjoining on the archbishop and bishops to see that their subordinates
did their duty faithfully, and entertained only wholesome opinions.
No associations or leagues were to be tolerated which might lead
to a disturbance of the public peace; in other words, liberty and
constitutional government were not to be thought of.[I-50] Another
decree of June 17th, demanded of the deputies from America having
in their possession petitions from their constituents to lay them
before the royal government, in order that they might be acted upon.
Several measures for the protection of morals and the advancement of
civilization were also enacted.

CHAPTER II.

INDEPENDENCE ACHIEVED.

1818-1821.

     PRESIDENT CÁRLOS URRUTIA—HIS LIBERAL VIEWS—COLOMBIAN
     ASSAULTS—SPANISH CONSTITUTION RESTORED—THE
     GAZISTAS, OR BACOS—THE CACOS—JOSÉ DEL VALLE—PEDRO
     MOLINA—LIBERAL INSTITUTIONS—EXTENT OF THE POLITICAL
     GOVERNMENT—ECCLESIASTICAL ADMINISTRATION—WORK OF AMERICAN
     DEPUTIES—PARTY EXCITEMENT IN GUATEMALA—URRUTIA DELEGATES
     HIS POWERS—SUBSTITUTE PRESIDENT GAVINO GAINZA—CHIAPAS
     AND HER GOVERNMENT—SHE SECEDES FROM SPAIN AND JOINS THE
     MEXICAN EMPIRE—GUATEMALA DECLARES FOR INDEPENDENCE—JUNTA
     GUBERNATIVA—CONVOCATION OF A CONGRESS.

Successor to Bustamante in the position of governor, president,
and captain-general, in March 1818, was Lieutenant-general Cárlos
Urrutia,[II-1] knight grand cross of the military order of San
Hermenegildo, which entitled him to be called excelentísimo señor. It
was a difficult position. The country was at peace, it is true, but
a political volcano was at work, and no one could foretell when the
upheaval of revolution might occur,[II-2] letting loose the elements
of destruction, as had happened in other parts of Spanish America.
However, another constitutional term under the Spanish monarch was
about being inaugurated, and this fact helped to bring on definitive
results.

Urrutia was a man of experience, with a well-balanced mind, whose
political opinions leaned to the side of progress. He would have been
well adapted to guide the course of events in Central America had
it not been for the infirmities of old age. Guatemala, being as yet
under the sway of Spain, was open to attack from the enemies of that
government, or at least, to such action as they might adopt in aid
of the disaffected portion of the people to secure their country's
independence. The latter was the plan of the Colombian insurgents in
fitting out a combined sea and land expedition to operate against the
ports of Omoa and Trujillo in 1820.[II-3]

[Sidenote: ATTACK ON TRUJILLO.]

On the 21st of April the watch-tower at Capiro, in Trujillo,
announced the approach of a Colombian flotilla of small vessels from
the windward. The garrison, commanded by José M. Palomar, at once
made preparations for emergencies. The flotilla, consisting of two
brigantines, four large and as many small schooners, one felucca, and
one sloop, under Commodore Aury, sailed in at two o'clock,[II-4] and
despatched a boat to shore to demand the surrender of the place within
one hour. Nothing further was done on that day, however; but early the
next morning the flotilla moved toward the mouth of the Guaimoreto,
and after reconnoitering the defences, opened a bombardment with ball
and grape-shot on the intrenchment and demolished it, which compelled
the defenders to fall back. The assailants landed 400 men and 15
horses, and advanced against the garrison, meeting with a repulse at
the fourth parapet. The garrison retreated to the fifth line, at which
the enemy was a second time driven back. The vessels fired broadside
upon broadside on the shore batteries, which were warmly returned.
The bombardment was kept up from nine A. M. till two P. M., when the
flotilla retired out of reach of the batteries. A portion of the land
force then attempted to enter the town by the rear of it, but was
detected and compelled to retire. Early in the morning of the 23d,
the invading troops returned to the vessels, leaving their horses; and
soon afterward the flotilla put to sea, each vessel firing a broadside,
on passing Point Castilla, against the watch-tower. During the night
of the 24th the Colombian vessels dropped out of sight.[II-5] On the
25th the flotilla appeared off Omoa, and for several days was making
attempts to effect a landing, which being unsuccessful, it retired on
the 6th of May, after setting fire to the larger brig, which had been
damaged by the fire from the town.

Fernando VII., under compulsion, restored the constitution of 1812
throughout his dominions. On the 9th of March, 1820, he swore to
support it, and the next day issued a manifesto conveying an apology
for having set it aside in 1814, and giving plausible reasons for
his present change of mind. On the 11th of April he issued another
manifesto, addressed to the people of America, expressing sorrow at
not having sooner reinstated the constitutional government. In another
decree of April 15th he restores to full force and vigor all decrees
of the córtes, both the extraordinary and ordinary, for the better
government and progress of the provinces in America.

It seems that Brigadier Gavino Gainza, appointed sub-inspector-general
of the forces in Central America, was commissioned to bring out
the royal proclamations and decrees for the reinstatement of the
constitution, and of the laws which were passed under it by the córtes.
There is nothing to show the precise time of his arrival in Guatemala,
but it will suffice to state that the diputacion provincial was
installed at the capital on the 13th of July.

At a preparatory sitting of the córtes, on the 26th of June, 1820,
Juan N. San Juan and José Sacasa were present as representatives from
Guatemala, and on the 2d of August Juan N. Tuero, or Fuero, presented
his credentials as a deputy elected from Chiapas for the córtes of
1815-16, which body he found closed on arriving in Spain at the end of
1814.[II-6] The necessity of such a diputacion was ably discussed in
the córtes on the 30th of April, 1821, by Deputy Hermosilla, seconded
by Deputy Milla, both supporting the report of the committee on the
subject. On the 17th of June the chamber was officially informed
of the installation of the diputacion, and commended its patriotic
labors.[II-7]

The 'junta suprema de censura,' created to adjudicate upon alleged
offences against the law regulating the press, had, on the 9th of
August, 1820, nominated, and the córtes confirmed, the members of the
junta de censura for Guatemala.[II-8]

[Sidenote: BACOS AND CACOS.]

The reëstablishment of the constitutional régime under such favorable
circumstances soon brought into life two great parties that for a
long time bore the respective names of Gazista, or Baco, and Caco.
The gazista, with José del Valle as its leader,[II-9] was made up
of Spaniards and artisans. The cacos recognized as their chieftain
José María Delgado.[II-10] Their party was composed of members of
the nobility, and of the men calling themselves independents. This
party from the first aspired to independence, and its candidates were
taken from the independent wing at the election of deputies and other
officials.

The gazistas, or bacos, were numerous and strong, for they had in
their ranks the rulers, many wealthy merchants, and the artisans, and
abundant funds at command, which were scattered without stint among the
needy and ignorant, who were ready enough to sell their votes.[II-11]
They likewise strengthened their influence with the lower class by
means of a pretended hostility to the aristocracy, or to what from that
time went by the name of 'espíritu de familia.' They won the elections,
but their triumph proved to be far from a solid one.

The cacos now resolved to use every endeavor to accomplish
independence. The connection with the aristocratic element was a
drawback; and the absolute necessity of winning over the mechanics
being recognized, a middle party was at once organized, which attached
itself to the independents, and would have no connection with the
nobles. This arrangement facilitated the accomplishment of the object
in view.

The political struggle was now fairly inaugurated. Pedro Molina[II-12]
began the publication of _El Editor Constitucional_, to defend
American rights. The _Amigo de la Patria_ appeared at the same time,
and often opposed Molina's radical doctrines. Urrutia, now styling
himself jefe político y capitan general, made an address to the
people, congratulating them and himself on the happy termination of
the election in the several parishes, and giving assurances that every
voter should have full liberty to cast his vote for representative in
the general congress, the diputacion, and the ayuntamiento.[II-13] A
portion of his address was specially devoted to artisans and laboring
men, whom he warned not to allow themselves to be tampered with to the
discredit of the government on the question of trade in cotton goods;
for, he told them, it was a positive misconception that the government
had it in view to decree freedom of foreign trade; on the contrary, it
had endeavored to check illegal traffic, which had been carried on to
the detriment of national interests and the royal treasury.

The measures adopted by him had to some extent corrected that evil. By
making the traders pay import dues, the treasury had profited, and the
people had been saved from new taxes. Formerly, English goods were paid
for wholly in coin; now, only one sixth of their cost was covered with
money, and the remainder with the produce of the country.[II-14]

The gobierno político de Guatemala had jurisdiction over the same
extent of country as the metropolitan,[II-15] namely, 214 leagues from
the ejidos of Motocinta on the west, and 116 leagues from Golfo Dulce
on the Atlantic, to the Pacific coast.[II-16]

[Sidenote: ARCHBISHOPS.]

The first archbishop of Guatemala appointed by the Spanish crown in
the present century was Luis Peñalver y Cárdenas,[II-17] who reached
his see the 3d of June, 1802, and on the 26th took possession.
During his brief incumbency he founded several rectorships, and two
primary schools for girls. His sight becoming seriously affected,
he relinquished the mitre, and returned to his native city, secretly
departing March 1, 1806.[II-18]

Rafael de la Vara de la Madrid, Peñalver's successor, arrived in
Acajutla on the 13th of December, 1807; in Guatemala city on the 4th of
January, 1808; and on the 3d of February took possession of his office.
In April 1809 he visited the province of Vera Paz, where he died on
the 31st of December, much regretted, as he had endeared himself by his
peaceable disposition and affability.[II-19]

Antonio Bergoza y Jordan, bishop of Oajaca, was nominated for the
succession, but declined the position.

The next and eighth archbishop of the diocese was Ramon Casaus y
Torres, nominated by the supreme council of regency on the 30th
of March, 1811; who entered the capital on the 30th of July, and
being a consecrated bishop, at once began to perform episcopal
functions.[II-20] His nomination was ratified by the king on the 27th
of August, 1814; the papal bulls of confirmation were issued on the
15th of March, 1815, and Casaus received the pallium on the 28th of
September of the same year.

At the sitting of the Spanish córtes on the 25th of June, 1821, the
American deputies laid before that body a memorial setting forth the
condition of their provinces, and the measures which, in their opinion,
would lead to a definitive peace. They not only assured their Spanish
colleagues that Americans were fully conscious of their rights as
freemen, but also of their determination and ability to defend them;
nevertheless, if those rights were respected, and justice was done,
existing difficulties might be obliterated. They believed, however,
that a constitutional system would be impracticable in America, unless
new and efficacious measures were adopted to enable the three branches
of government to act freely within their respective bounds, and
likewise to make effective the responsibility of public officials for
their acts. Another point upon which they laid stress was the inutility
of American deputies at the Spanish córtes unless they were effectively
upheld from their respective countries. They found other faults with
the existing government, and declared that the solution of the great
problem would be found in the establishment of autonomic governments in
America.

[Sidenote: RIPE FOR INDEPENDENCE.]

Commerce between Spanish America and the mother country should be
treated as internal trade, the Americans having equal rights and
privileges with their brethren of Europe. The same equality in respect
to civil rights and appointment to office was likewise to exist between
the natives of America and Spain. If such demands were conceded, Mexico
and Central America would pay to Spain ten million dollars within six
years, in yearly installments from January 1, 1823, to be applied to
the cancelling of the national debt. They would also allow Spain two
million dollars yearly for the support of the royal navy.[II-21]

It was now too late, however, for conciliatory efforts to be
successful. Events crowded upon each other, and were beyond the control
even of the men who made them. Central America was at peace, but the
constitutional system recently established, with its popular elections
and a free press, after the spirit of nationality had gained so much
ground, naturally tended to excite the public mind, emboldening the
timid, and increasing the number of the friends of independence. Party
spirit controlled everything; it was felt even in the domestic circle.
The people were prepared and anxious for a change, when vague rumors
were set afloat of renewed revolutionary efforts in Mexico.[II-22]
Party leaders were of one mind on the desirability of separation. It
was generally admitted that the subjection of the country to Spain
could no longer be maintained. Only a few high officials and Spaniards
dissented. Now was the time, if ever, for a sound head and strong
hand to helm the ship of state. Urrutia, owing to age and physical
ailings, was not the man for the occasion; nor was he, though opposed
to the scheme of secession, able to retard it. Under the circumstances,
the diputacion provincial prevailed on the jefe superior político
to delegate his powers to the sub-inspector of the troops, Gavino
Gainza.[II-23] This officer at first tried to stem the torrent of
revolution, to act as the agent of Spain, disapproving the plan of
separation, but at the same time maintained intimate relations with the
independents and aided their efforts. This party publicly circulated a
paper for signatures to ask Gainza to proclaim independence himself.
He pretended to be indignant; and upon the receipt of the plan of
Iguala, formed in Mexico by Iturbide and Guerrero,[II-24] he issued a
manifesto depicting it in the blackest colors, and ordered that all who
had called on him to declare independence should be prosecuted.[II-25]
The independents became disgusted, but had to make the best of the
situation. They then resolved to play upon his personal ambition,
assuring him that for his coöperation in their plans he would be
retained in command, and afterward chosen the first chief magistrate of
the young nation. While he still hesitated, they despatched Cayetano
Bedoya to Oajaca for military aid from General Bravo. But on the
messenger's arrival at Ciudad Real de Chiapas, he found that the place
had followed the example of Oajaca and Tehuantepec, accepting the plan
of Iguala. This step hastened events in Guatemala, and Bedoya had no
need of going farther.

The act of Ciudad Real, received September 13th, caused the greatest
excitement in the city of Guatemala, and the government had to give
way. Urged by the diputacion, Gainza summoned, on the 14th, the high
officials and other notables to a meeting next day to resolve on some
action responsive to the demands of the people.[II-26]

[Sidenote: GAINZA'S MEETING.]

During the night of the 14th Molina and the cacos scattered their
agents throughout the wards to stir up the masses, and at the same time
to awe the españolistas, or royal partisans. At 8 A. M. on the 15th
a throng of independents filled the porticos, court-yard, halls, and
ante-chambers of the government house. Among them and instructing the
crowds were Molina, Barrundia, Basilio Porras, and other leaders. Soon
after began to arrive at the government house the officials called to
take part in the deliberations of the meeting, namely, two members of
each corporation deputized therefor; the archbishop and prelates of the
religious orders; the chief officers of the army and treasury; who,
together with the diputacion provincial, and under the presidency of
the acting jefe superior político, Gainza,[II-27] at once proceeded to
business. After reading the declarations in Chiapas, several members
briefly expressed their views. The first speaker was Valle, leader
of the gazistas, who eloquently advocated independence as necessary
and just, but ended advising that it should not be proclaimed till
the other sections had formally declared in its favor. The motion was
seconded. The anti-independents[II-28] opposed all action until final
results in Mexico should be received. Every attempt at a vacillating
policy was defeated by the energetic efforts of the independents,
who voted for an immediate declaration of independence.[II-29] Every
vote favorable to independence was received by the people with loud
applause, and every one against it with groans. The popular preference
became so marked and boisterous that the anti-independents, fearing for
their lives, retired from the palace.

[Sidenote: PROCLAMATION OF INDEPENDENCE.]

The diputacion and ayuntamiento then, as the legitimate organs to
express the public will, drew up the Acta de Independencia, which was
adopted, signed, and sworn to by all the members present.[II-30] This
instrument, after declaring the aspiration of Guatemalans to be a free
and independent people,[II-31] invited all citizens of the provinces
to choose without delay representatives, on the basis of one for every
15,000 inhabitants, to a national congress that was to meet March 1,
1822. In the mean time the Spanish laws, courts of justice, and public
functionaries were to continue as heretofore. The representatives were
to be chosen by the same juntas electorales that had lately, since
the restoration of the constitution, elected deputies to the córtes,
without excluding, as the constitution did, men of African descent
from the rights of full citizenship.[II-32] The clause giving the last
electoral college, with its majority of Valle's partisans, the power
to choose the members of the constituent congress, is said to have been
inserted in the acta by himself.[II-33]

On the 17th Gainza issued a proclamation formally placing before the
people the resolutions adopted on the 15th, and enjoining on all the
duty of abiding by them, and of respecting the laws and authorities
recognized by them. Any attempt, by word or deed, to restore Spanish
domination was declared high treason, punishable with death.[II-34]
The powers of the congress would be constituent to adopt a form of
government and frame the national constitution. Meantime Gainza held
civil and military authority, acting with the advice of a provisional
junta consultiva, formed with the diputacion provincial and seven
additional members, representing respectively Leon, Comayagua, Costa
Rica, Quezaltenango, Sololá, Chimaltenango, Sonsonate, and Ciudad
Real.[II-35] Neither the people at large nor the meeting of the 15th
created such a body. It was the creation of the men who remained behind
in the hall, including Valle, who drew up the acta.[II-36] Continuing
his double dealing, Gainza had issued his proclamation, on the 16th,
for the election of representatives to congress. He spoke therein
of the longing for independence since 1810, of the popular love for
the cause which had been so forcibly sustained at the meeting of the
preceding day, and concluded by inviting the whole people to approve
the plan, and to appoint their deputies to complete the work.

Before proceeding further with the political situation at the
capital of Guatemala, I will devote a little space to laying before
the reader some information on one of its most important sections,
namely, Chiapas. The population was computed in 1813 at over 100,000
inhabitants, of whom 70,000 were Indians; the remainder were Spaniards
and mixed breeds, with a few negroes.[II-37]

As a reward for good services and generous pecuniary contributions
to the nation, the Spanish córtes passed, October 29, 1813, a decree
bestowing the title of city on the town of Comitan, and that of villa
on those of Tusta, Tonalá, Tapachula, and Palenque.[II-38]

[Sidenote: THE SUBDELEGADOS.]

In contravention of law, the first name of the three proposed by
the intendente to the president of Guatemala, for chief of each
of the eleven subdelegaciones, was that of some creature of the
intendente. Unfitness for the place or immorality counted for nothing
if the nomination suited the proposer or the confirming power. These
subdelegados, by means of their comisarios, collected the tribute and
speculated with it; each being a tyrant who oppressed the Indians at
his will.

Education was neglected; ignorance prevailed to such an extent that a
large portion of the inhabitants did not know even the first rudiments
of their religion. The poorer Spaniards and the mixed breeds were
entirely without education. Indeed, in nearly three centuries, not
only had the Indians not learned to speak Spanish, but the native
Spaniards spoke the six Indian tongues of the province better than
their own.[II-39]

Chiapas, it is well known, had been an episcopal see, with its
cathedral at Ciudad Real, since the first years of the conquest.[II-40]
The country is fertile and well watered. Its agricultural products
were wheat—of which there was a surplus for exportation—maize, beans,
rice, coffee, and cacao.[II-41] A variety of vegetables in abundance,
and the fruits of all climes, could also be obtained. The maguey was
extensively cultivated for pulque and aguardiente. A great deal of
sugar-cane and good tobacco were grown. Indigo and cochineal were
cultivated to some extent. The country had likewise excellent grazing.
Cattle, sheep, goats, horses, and mules abounded. The mines of gold,
silver, lead, copper, and iron were not worked, owing to the poverty
of the inhabitants. The governor-intendente of Chiapas in 1817, Cárlos
Castañon, as appears in the records, was a confirmed royalist.[II-42]

From the time that Iturbide proclaimed the independence of Mexico, the
canons of the chapter in the diocese of Ciudad Real—bitterly hostile,
like the majority of the Mexican and Central American clergy, to the
reforms of the Spanish córtes respecting the church[II-43]—had been
in communication with that chieftain's auditor de guerra, Fernandez
Almansa, who kept them informed on the progress of the revolution. The
clericals looked upon the Mexican chief as the savior of their ancient
prerogatives and monopolies, and with this end in view, prepared
public opinion for setting aside the authority of Fernando VII. and his
córtes.[II-44]

  [Illustration: CHIAPAS.]

[Sidenote: CHIAPAS ACCEPTS ITURBIDE.]

The governor-intendente, Juan N. Batres, together with the ayuntamiento
of Ciudad Real, proclaimed, on the 3d of September, 1821, the
separation of Chiapas from Spain, and her acceptance of Iturbide's
plan of Iguala. On the 8th all the authorities and officers, civil and
military, took the oath to support that act, which was administered
by the governor of the diocese; after which they had high mass and a
sermon in the cathedral, where the secular clergy and the people took
the same oath[II-45] before the aforesaid ecclesiastic authority.
The obligations assumed were to support the Roman catholic apostolic
religion; to secure the independence of the empire, preserving to
that end peace and union between Europeans and Americans; and to obey
Fernando VII., should he adopt and swear to support the constitution
to be enacted by the córtes of the Mexican empire. Chiapas was,
therefore, the first province of the captain-generalcy of Guatemala
to throw off the Spanish yoke; she at the same time separated
herself from Guatemala, and manifested her determination to link her
future with Mexico. All this was made known September 21st by the
comandante-general of Oajaca to Iturbide. The example of Ciudad Real
was unhesitatingly followed by the other towns in the province.

We have seen that Guatemala, at her declaration of independence, did
not at once accept annexation to the Mexican empire. This course
did not suit the rulers and notables of Ciudad Real, who hastened
to manifest their displeasure at a meeting held September 20th, and
attended by the intendente, ayuntamiento, and other official bodies,
prelates, and a large number of citizens.

[Sidenote: CHIAPAS A PART OF MEXICO.]

As a matter of fact, the desire of Chiapas to be detached from
Guatemala and annexed to Mexico existed with some strength even before
the declaration of independence;[II-46] and Guatemala having failed
to return an answer to the letter from the authorities of Chiapas,
announcing her action of the 3d, this neglect had strengthened the
notables of the latter in their resolution to recognize no other
government than that of the Mexican empire under the treaties of
Córdoba. It was also resolved at the meeting not to circulate the
declaration of independence which the jefe político of Guatemala had
sent. These sentiments were duly seconded by the other cities and
towns.

In order to guard against any action Guatemala might take because
of the course of Chiapas, at a formal session of the diputacion,
presided over by the jefe político, and held on the 22d of October, it
was resolved to send to Mexico a commissioner to take the necessary
steps, and procure his province's separation from Guatemala, even
if the latter should come to be thereafter a part of the Mexican
empire.[II-47]

CHAPTER III.

UNION WITH MEXICO.

1821-1822.

     FIRST ACTS OF GUATEMALAN RULERS—INTRIGUES OF PARTIES—THEIR
     EVIL CONSEQUENCES—GAINZA'S INTRIGUES—INDEPENDENCE
     IN THE OTHER PROVINCES—REWARDS TO GAINZA—TROUBLES
     IN SALVADOR—DISSENSIONS IN HONDURAS—LOCAL SQUABBLES
     IN NICARAGUA—PREDILECTION FOR IMPERIALISM—COSTA RICA
     NEUTRAL—CONDITION OF VARIOUS SECTIONS—SECEDING DISTRICTS OF
     GUATEMALA—PERPLEXITIES OF THE JUNTA CONSULTIVA—ITURBIDE'S
     DEVICES—MILITARY PRESSURE—HIS PROPOSALS ACCEPTED—ILLEGAL
     ANNEXATION—PROTESTS AND RESISTANCE—WAR BEGINS.

Among the first acts of the junta at Guatemala was the promotion of
two officers who were supposed to be reliable supporters of the late
movement.[III-1] Both proved themselves afterward recreant to their
pledges, by their hostility to the republican cause.

[Sidenote: PARTY STRIFE.]

The cacos were republicans. They strove to rid the country of
the antiquated errors and practices, including in their plans the
abolishment of the privileges of the clergy, and the restriction of
their power, which had been a constant source of injury to the people
at large. They wanted the adoption of democratic institutions, in order
to place the masses on the level heretofore occupied only by the ruling
class. They succeeded in prevailing on the people to take an interest
and a direct intervention in public affairs. Barrundia, Molina, and
Córdoba led them to the galleries of the junta chamber to witness its
acts, and even take part in its deliberations.[III-2] They attacked
Valle for the clause he inserted in the acta of the 15th, to which I
have alluded in the preceding chapter. On that point they certainly had
a well-founded grievance, but their manner of presenting it resulted
in a loss of confidence in the junta, the organization of new parties,
and general distraction. The point taken by them, however, was decided
in their favor by the junta. But the latter held secret sessions after
the 29th of September, significant of sinister purposes.

The other party—formerly constituting the ruling class—scouted the idea
of equality. Most of the churchmen had the same feeling; for in joining
the movement for separation from Spain their motive had been to shield
their menaced prerogatives, rather than love for America or freedom.

On the 18th of September Gainza wrote Iturbide, generalissimo of the
so-called empire of Mexico, that his course had been hailed with joy,
and that political parties had consolidated on the proposition of
independence from Spain; hence he had proclaimed it. And that, since
then, amid the transition from one system to another, the minds of the
people of Guatemala had been fixed on Iturbide, and they had desired to
tender him their congratulations as the liberator of New Spain.[III-3]

The junta consultiva passed a number of decrees, which were sanctioned
by Gainza. Urrutia, the ex-captain-general, was tendered his salary
and the considerations due his rank and former office if he would
formally recognize the independence.[III-4] He declined with thanks,
departing for Habana soon after. At the time of the adoption of the
acta, peaceable persons were assured of protection to their persons
and property, which pledge was faithfully fulfilled. No opponent of
independence was molested. Officials desirous of returning to their
country were allowed to do so.[III-5]

The junta, which bore the compellation of excelentísima, unanimously
appointed Gainza captain-general, with the salary of $10,000 a year,
decorating him also with a three-colored scarf, commemorative of
the three guarantees. A gold medal was voted to the members of the
ayuntamiento, who made the solemn declaration of independence on
the 23d of September.[III-6] Committees were next appointed to study
and report to the junta on public instruction, safety and defences,
statistics, industry, and finances. José del Valle was instructed to
form a plan of government.[III-7]

Several financial measures engaged the attention of the junta. One
of them proposed to levy a duty of ten per centum on gold and silver
exported to Spain. This was never strictly enforced. Restrictions to
foreign commerce, and monopolies existing under the Spanish government,
were abolished. Liberal principles were introduced, including freedom
of the press, which had been guaranteed by the Spanish constitution,
and was now continued in force.[III-8]

[Sidenote: SALVADOR INDEPENDENT.]

In Salvador absolute independence had been declared by the ayuntamiento
on the 21st of September, and proclaimed eight days after. Pedro
Barriere, who as teniente letrado was temporarily acting as chief
civil authority, together with the ayuntamiento of San Salvador,
decreed the election of seven persons to form a "junta subalterna
económica y consultiva." There was great commotion stirred on the one
hand by the vicar Ignacio Saldaña, and on the other by the liberals,
Arce, Ramirez, and others. The next day, the people being assembled
to effect the election, Barriere, pretending that his friends, the
so-called serviles, were in peril, retracted his former action. His
words enraged the populace. Then he called out the troops to disperse
the crowds, and arrested the republican leaders Arce, Rodriguez, and
Domingo Lara.[III-9] But on the news of his course reaching Guatemala,
Delgado was despatched to Salvador as a peace-maker, clothed with ample
powers. On his way to the capital he liberated prisoners, all of whom
joined his following and entered the city with him. Barriere was sent
out of the province; the troops were disarmed; peace was restored; a
subordinate junta consultiva was installed, and Delgado continued at
the head of the government.[III-10]

In Honduras, on the receipt at Comayagua of the news that Guatemala
had seceded from the Spanish crown, the governor-intendente, Brigadier
José Tinoco de Contreras, and the diputacion[III-11] refused to
recognize the government constituted in that city, and took an oath to
support the plan of Iguala. This was a virtual annexation of Honduras
to the Mexican empire. The partidos of Tegucigalpa and Gracias, and
the ports of Omoa and Trujillo, would not accept as valid the act of
the authorities at Comayagua, and maintained relations with those in
Guatemala. The independence from Spain had been declared on the 16th of
October.

Tinoco took the two ports above named, which were treacherously
surrendered to him.[III-12] He also fitted out a force to march on
Tegucigalpa. A counter-revolution, however, on the 1st of December,
supported by an approaching Guatemalan liberal force, set aside
Tinoco's control and restored that of the junta consultiva.[III-13]

[Sidenote: LIBERTY IN NICARAGUA.]

Nicaragua had, since 1813, a diputacion provincial, under the decree of
the Spanish córtes of May 24, 1812. Its jurisdiction extended over the
districts of Leon, Granada, Segovia, Nicaragua, and Matagalpa. Under
the new system, established in 1821, and since Urrutia's retirement,
constant questions of jurisdiction arose between the intendente and the
superior jefe político.[III-14]

On the 3d of October Colonel Crisanto Sacasa, commandant at Granada,
issued a general order to the officers to report with their troops
next morning, and take the oath to support national independence,
pursuant to the instructions he had received from Captain-general
Gainza. Intendente Saravia had been at enmity with Gainza, and when
the first steps were taken in Guatemala for independence, he threw
off his authority. In this he had the aid of Bishop Jerez and Colonel
Joaquin Arechavala, commander of the militia, all three being natives
of old Spain. They induced the diputacion and the ayuntamiento, by
an act of the 11th of October, to declare Nicaragua seceded from
Guatemala.[III-15] This action occurred in Leon. But Granada refused
to concur, and sent its representatives to the congress called to meet
in Guatemala. Later, October 21st, the authorities in Leon formally
accepted the Iguala plan, thereby annexing the whole province to
the Mexican empire. The country was accordingly divided into two
antagonistic parties, the imperialist and the republican.[III-16]

Gainza said to the diputacion at Leon, on the 22d of October, that
neither they nor the junta consultiva, nor any other body of men
then existing, could decide upon the future of the country; none had
a legal right to declare for or against annexation to Mexico. This
could be arrived at only by the representatives of the people in
the general congress.[III-17] He appointed Colonel Sacasa comandante
general of the forces in Nicaragua, and directed him to install in
Granada a subordinate junta gubernativa of five members, clothed with
the functions of a jefe político, and which was to continue in power
till the status of the country should be fixed.[III-18] Sacasa frankly
notified the rulers in Leon of what he was to do, and took steps to
carry his orders into execution. But Saravia, with the bishop and
the diputacion, determined that no such junta should be installed.
The diputacion, on the 1st of December, by a special act, forbade its
organization, declaring all attempts toward it subversive of good order
and hostile to the Mexican empire, to which they owed allegiance; and
warning all citizens to abstain from such efforts.

[Sidenote: COSTA RICA NEUTRAL.]

Sacasa had every right to expect that Gainza would support him against
attacks from Leon, but he was disappointed. The captain-general wrote
him, on the 22d of December, that it was doubtful if Central America
could maintain a government separate from Mexico, many towns having
already attached themselves to the empire; and that he had expressed
the same opinion to Saravia. Whereupon Sacasa, though a republican,
made no further opposition to the powers at Leon.

Costa Rica was privileged by distance to keep aloof from political
troubles threatening the other provinces. She had seceded from Spain
on the 27th of October, and set aside the governor, Juan Cañas; but
when called upon to adopt the plan of the capital or that of Leon,
she declined both, preferring a neutral attitude.[III-19] A meeting
of notables confirmed the act of secession, and set up a provisional
government entirely detached from that at Leon, which was to reside
alternately in Cartago, San José, Heredia, and Alajuela. But this was
found inconvenient, owing to rivalries between the two first-named
towns; and finally it was decided, on the 27th of November, to place
public affairs in the hands of Manuel Peralta, Rafael Osejo, and
Hermenegildo Bonilla, who were to reside at the provincial capital,
Cartago. Under this arrangement peace was preserved, and the province
never was really under the imperial rule.[III-20]

Dissensions had now brought the country to the brink of civil war,
and no time was to be lost in averting it. Measures were adopted
to hasten the meeting of congress. With the view of restoring peace
between the sections, and of rendering harmless disturbing elements
without resort to arms, the junta at Guatemala concluded to despatch
trusty commissioners to the provinces where secession was rife, who
were to prevail on them to send deputies to the general congress.
Other agents were to be despatched to Mexico to watch the turn of
events at the capital.[III-21] What good results those agents might
have accomplished, it is impossible now to say. They had no occasion
to try their efforts. Events in Mexico succeeded one another with such
rapidity, and their influence on Central America was so powerful, that,
even among the best patriots, many made up their minds to coöperate
toward the union, carried away by the idea that only under the ægis of
the northern empire could peace, safety, and stability be secured.

Costa Rica, we have seen, was in fact out of the field; at any rate,
it had no share in the political strife. The provinces of Guatemala
proper and Salvador were the only ones, at present, which together
with Granada, in Nicaragua, and some portions of Honduras, attempted to
preserve an independence from Mexico under whatever form of government
might be adopted in that country. The idea of annexation to Mexico
had been, however, growing popular from day to day in Guatemala. The
important section of Quezaltenango adhered to the scheme, on the 13th
of November, inviting Suchitepequez, Sololá, and Antigua Guatemala to
follow the example, which they did soon after. And Cirilo Flores and
Antonio Corzo, who in later years figured as most prominent champions
of democracy and suffered martyrdom for their cause, then supported the
action of Quezaltenango.

It was contended that Central America, after throwing off the
Spanish yoke, acquired, with independence, the right of forming such
associations as might be mutually beneficial. This doctrine was warmly
advocated by a large portion of the reflecting class. Under such
circumstances, Guatemala and Salvador, hemmed in as they were between
provinces that had already become annexed to Mexico, could not maintain
an absolute independence.

[Sidenote: ITURBIDE'S EFFORTS.]

Iturbide had large ideas of imperial sway, and was bent on the
acquisition of entire Central America, aided efficiently, as he was
on this side, by the aristocrats and other dissentient elements, who,
perceiving the insignificance they would come to if the nation finally
became constituted under a democratic government, which their opponents
were aiming at, labored with might and main to defeat the plan.[III-22]
They won over with money and fair promises a part of the people, and
with Gainza, who expected high rank and offices from the new empire,
bound Central America hand and foot, as will hereafter be seen.

The junta consultiva was much perplexed in view of the situation. The
imperialists daily became more insolent and exacting. At this critical
time—November 28th—Gainza laid before it a letter[III-23] from the
generalissimo, making allusion to the much abused second article
of the acta de independencia, and declaring that Guatemala was not
able to occupy as yet a place in the family of nations, and should
therefore link her fate with Mexico.[III-24] Whereupon the junta,
at the suggestion of the marqués de Aycinena, hastily answered that
the popular wishes must be ascertained before adopting any action;
promising to send the proposal at once to the ayuntamientos and local
authorities, with instructions to call on the people to give a formal
expression of their will on the subject. This promise was kept in a
measure—the ayuntamientos, not the people, were given one month's time
to manifest their preference.[III-25]

Soon after the arrival of Iturbide's messenger, the persecution of
republicans was begun. The rough element of the population, instigated
by their adversaries, during the night insulted them at their
homes.[III-26] Any one who either by word or writing opposed the plan
of annexation was treated as seditious. At last the opposing parties
had a scuffle in the streets, on the night of November 30th, which
ended in the discomfiture of the republicans engaged in it.[III-27]
Barrundia and Molina were present and exhibited much energy. The latter
was in great peril of losing his life.

[Sidenote: VOTE OF THE AYUNTAMIENTOS.]

On the day appointed for the receipt of the returns from the several
ayuntamientos—namely, the 31st of December—the junta provisional
consultiva proceeded to the count. The result was as follows: 21
ayuntamientos declared that none but the general congress had authority
to decide for or against the union with Mexico; 104 favored the
annexation at once and unconditionally; 11 approved of the union,
provided certain terms, which they appended, were stipulated in the
act of incorporation; 32 left the matter wholly to the provisional
government; and two declined the connection in toto.[III-28] Many
others had not, for some reason, returned any answers; or if they had,
the government in Guatemala failed to receive them on the appointed
day. The result was made known to the regency in Mexico on the 3d of
January, 1822, and on the 5th the subject was discussed in all its
bearings. Valle moved that the decision should be postponed until the
receipt of the returns of the 67 ayuntamientos not yet heard from.
Rivera, Calderon, and Alvarado objected to any action. Gainza advocated
the acceptance of the aid and protection tendered by Mexico.[III-29]
The junta, disregarding all objections adduced, and the marked
differences in the opinions of the ayuntamientos, decreed on the same
day, January 5, 1822, that the whole of Central America should be
annexed to the empire of Mexico, without other conditions than the
fulfilment of the plan of Iguala and the treaties of Córdoba.[III-30]
In a manifesto of that date, it assured the people that, after
obtaining the votes of all the authorities, corporations, and prominent
persons, and in view of the census of population formed in September
1821, it was evident that the vote for the union with Mexico had
reached a majority in Guatemala proper; and including the votes of
Nicaragua, Comayagua, Ciudad Real de Chiapas, Quezaltenango, Sololá,
and other towns which had a few days previously declared themselves
for annexation, it would be found that almost the whole population had
expressed itself in favor of connection.[III-31] No member failed to
record his name in favor of the loss of nationality, though some had,
as before stated, suggested that certain guarantees should be required
previous to the completion of the surrender.

[Sidenote: GAINZA'S EDICT.]

Gainza issued a manifesto full of generalities, declared there was no
further need of electing deputies to congress, and assured the people
of a liberal government, and future peace and prosperity.[III-32]
Erelong events came to show how delusive were the promises thus held
out by the incoming régime. It was preposterous on the part of an
unconstituted country, as Mexico then was, with a government whose
existence was precarious, to undertake the task of affording protection
to the people of Central America—to a people that had been brought
under the yoke of the so-called empire in such an unprecedented manner.

Forgetting, after a few days, the honeyed words of his manifesto,
Gainza,[III-33] on January 9th, issued a stringent edict, countersigned
by José María Celaya as secretary, giving renewed force to his former
edicts of September 17th and December 1st, and forbidding, under the
penalties provided by the laws against sedition, that any one should,
either by tongue or pen, censure or refute the action adopted as the
will of the majority. Conversations on the subject in the streets or
public places were prohibited, and citizens were enjoined to report
at once to the authorities any attempted conspiracy against the new
government which might come to their knowledge. Constitutional alcaldes
and other local authorities were charged with the execution of this
decree.

Gainza and his junta thus gave way to the wishes of the would-be
oligarchs and the clergy, ignoring the fact, formerly recognized
by them, that to the representatives of the people in congress
exclusively belonged the decision of the question on the future status
of the country.[III-34] The aristocrats and clericals brought about
difficulties to prevent the election of representatives, and took
advantage of them to carry out their designs. The truth is, that the
device resorted to, of acting upon the opinions of ayuntamientos which
they well knew had no authority in the premises, was illegal. And,
indeed, could a population of upwards of one million, scattered over
75,000 square miles of territory, have duly considered so vital a
matter as the abdication of their national autonomy within the short
period of thirty days? The whole secret of the aristocratic success lay
in the pressure brought to bear on the country with a military force
sent by Iturbide to support his pretensions.[III-35] The following
facts appeared in the imperial gazette of Mexico: The regency announced
on the 12th of November to the junta soberana that Chiapas, as well as
the towns of Guatemala, had signified a wish to be received as a part
of the Mexican empire, asking for military aid to uphold its acts. The
regency added, that the military aid must then be quite near Chiapas,
under the orders issued beforehand by the generalissimo, 5,000 men
having already, under the conde de la Cadena, crossed the Tehuantepec
River. The junta graciously assented to the so-called wishes of the
people of Chiapas and Guatemala, giving them the rights of Mexican
citizens.[III-36]

A division under Brigadier Vicente Filisola, with Colonel Felipe
Codallos as his second in command,[III-37] began its march in November
1821; but a large portion of the men deserted on the way, and the ranks
had to be recruited in Chiapas; and yet Filisola finally arrived in
Guatemala with only 600 men.[III-38]

[Sidenote: TROUBLES IN SALVADOR.]

The junta provisional, after its action of January 5th, had no
further reason for continuing, and so dissolved itself on the 21st of
February. Gainza, retaining the offices of jefe superior político and
captain-general, called into life a diputacion provincial.[III-39] His
authority, however, was not regarded in Chiapas, Honduras, Nicaragua,
nor a great part of Salvador. Costa Rica still remained aloof and was
unmolested.

During Iturbide's occupation of his rickety throne, Central America
had deputies in the imperial congress,[III-40] and the orders of the
emperor's government were generally obeyed. Nevertheless, plucky little
Salvador kept up the struggle against foreign domination. Nearly a
majority of its ayuntamientos, together with the priest Delgado, the
acting political chief, had signified their wish to await the action of
congress; and on hearing of the surrender to Mexico by Gainza and his
junta, entered a protest and seceded, resolving to remain independent
till the representatives of the whole people of Central America should
decide the question of nationality.[III-41]

But even here dissensions fostered from Guatemala had their pernicious
effects. Santa Ana and San Miguel had voted for annexation to Mexico,
and to uphold this action, seceded from their own province, which in
that year led to a war between Salvador and Guatemala. The government
at San Salvador gave the chief command of its forces to Manuel José
Arce, with orders to bring the people of Santa Ana to reason, peaceably
if he could, forcibly if he must.[III-42]

Arce marched on Santa Ana, when Padilla, commanding a portion of the
Sonsonate force which had been stationed in that city, retreated within
its own territory. After compelling the town to revoke its act of
secession, Arce went in pursuit of Padilla, occupied Ahuachapam, then
an annex of Sonsonate, and finally routed that officer in the hacienda
El Espinal.[III-43] This was the first act of a bloody war, which will
be treated in another chapter.

  [Illustration: DEFEAT OF PADILLA.]

In Honduras, the districts of Tegucigalpa and Gracias, together
with the ports of Omoa and Trujillo, repudiated the union with
Mexico.[III-44] Brigadier Tinoco, on hearing that a Salvadoran force
had entered Honduras, resigned his office of governor. Comayagua,
however, continued recognizing the authority of Mexico, but not that of
Guatemala.[III-45]

[Sidenote: NICARAGUA AND COSTA RICA.]

In Nicaragua, the city of Granada disregarded the authority at Leon,
and held relations with Gainza, even after Colonel Sacasa had placed
himself under the orders of the former.[III-46] Sacasa had surrendered
his charge in Granada to Cleto Ordoñez,[III-47] who thus became the
leader of the liberal party in Nicaragua. After the act of annexation
to Mexico, and Salvador's act of secession, both Sacasa and Ordoñez
supported the independents.

Ordoñez, finding himself in possession of irresponsible power, soon
gave a loose rein to his bad instincts. He began to seize private
property, not excepting even that of foreigners. Sacasa's person and
property did not escape.[III-48]

Costa Rica did not fail, though maintaining a neutral attitude, to
manifest her discontent with the course of Guatemala.

CHAPTER IV.

CENTRAL AMERICAN CONFEDERATION.

1822-1825.

     SECESSION FROM MEXICO—ARZÚ'S CAMPAIGN—PREVARICATION OF
     SALVADOR—FILISOLA'S VICTORY—HIS SUBSEQUENT COURSE—LIBERAL
     TRIUMPH IN COSTA RICA—HONDURAS FAVORS UNION—NATIONAL
     INDEPENDENCE SECURED—LABORS TO ORGANIZE A NATION—THE
     CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY—PROVINCIAS UNIDAS DEL CENTRO
     DE AMÉRICA—ABOLITION OF AFRICAN SLAVERY—PROVISIONAL
     GOVERNMENT—MODERADOS OR SERVILES—LIBERALES OR
     FIEBRES—PRINCIPLES AND AIMS OF PARTIES—MEXICAN
     FORCES RETIRE—SEDITIONS BEGIN—SALVADORAN FORCE IN
     GUATEMALA—CONFEDERACION DE CENTRO AMÉRICA—FUNDAMENTAL
     LAW—FINANCES—ADJOURNMENT OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY.

[Sidenote: DEFEAT OF ARZÚ.]

Arce's invasion of territory occupied by Guatemala afforded the latter
a sufficient pretext, if any were needed, to declare war against her
high-spirited and troublesome neighbor. Colonel Arzú was thereupon
despatched on the 19th of March, 1822, at the head of a force, which
in a few days had been increased to 1,000 men, to bring Salvador under
subjection. Arzú's dilatory movements, however, defeated the object
of the expedition.[IV-1] He lost two months and more waiting for
reënforcements and artillery, and by indecision as to whether or not
he should heed the protestations of the Salvadorans.[IV-2] The latter
employed the time thus gained in fortifying their city, though short
of arms to equip a sufficient garrison. Aroused at last by Gainza's
positive commands, Arzú continued his march,[IV-3] and avoiding the
fortifications of San Salvador, entered the city on the 3d of June,
taking its defenders by surprise.[IV-4] Having now every advantage,
Arzú might have made himself master of the place had he not carelessly
permitted his troops to disband for purposes of plunder. The result
was, that the Salvadorans had time to rally, and a street fight
ensued, ending with the total discomfiture of Arzú and his force, who
with the loss of their arms were driven from the city.[IV-5] Had the
victors made the most of their success, they might have annihilated
the invading force; but they failed to conduct the pursuit with any
skill.[IV-6]

Arzú's defeat produced a deep impression in Guatemala, where such a
result had been unexpected, the expedition having been fitted out with
the utmost care. Fears began to be entertained that the Salvadorans
might become aggressors and invade Guatemala. The friends of Mexico
were therefore much pleased on hearing that the Mexican commander,
Filisola, had been ordered to supersede Gainza, who was summoned to
Mexico.[IV-7] With about 600 men Filisola arrived in Guatemala on
the 12th of June, 1822, and ten days later took possession of the
government. He inaugurated a comparatively good state of affairs;
for though as a supporter of the Mexican cause, and specially of the
empire, he aimed at consolidation, yet his policy was a conciliatory
one.[IV-8] He endeavored to obtain the assent of Salvador to union
with Mexico without resorting to force. At first his course presented
a promising aspect, inasmuch as the representatives of the former
apparently made little objection; and on the news of Iturbide's call to
the Mexican throne, among the many congratulations received by Filisola
were those of Salvador, delivered by a special deputation. But the
object, as it turned out, was merely to gain time. The negotiations
were continued several months, hostilities having been suspended
by both belligerents, till early in September it was agreed that
further negotiations should be carried on directly with the executive
and congress of Mexico.[IV-9] This agreement was not carried out,
however, owing to new difficulties raised by San Salvador. Filisola,
who evidently would not assume the responsibility of war, referred
the whole matter to Mexico for instructions. Iturbide, who had just
dissolved the Mexican congress for its opposition to his plans,[IV-10]
felt no inclination to permit little San Salvador to dictate the terms
of union, and disallowing the armistice concluded by Filisola, ordered
him to begin hostilities forthwith if unconditional submission were
refused.[IV-11]

[Sidenote: FILISOLA'S CAMPAIGN.]

Leaving his second officer, Colonel Codallos, in charge of the
government at Guatemala, Filisola began the military operations toward
the end of November, taking possession of Santa Ana and marching[IV-12]
upon the city of San Salvador, after having routed several small
hostile detachments which attempted to check his progress. At the same
time he published the decree of the Mexican government of November
4th, making of Central America, or the former captain-generalcy of
Guatemala, three comandancias generales, namely, those of Chiapas,
Sacatepequez, and Costa Rica, the capitals being respectively Ciudad
Real, Nueva Guatemala, and Leon in Nicaragua.[IV-13] The government
of San Salvador was in a precarious situation; although disposing
of an army whose numerical force and equipment were not inferior to
Filisola's, yet it had neither discipline nor experienced officers.
The few encounters which had already taken place between the two
forces had made it evident that the Salvadorans could not cope with
Filisola's military skill. Under the circumstances, the authorities
of San Salvador resolved upon incorporation with Mexico, and demanded
that Filisola should proceed no farther. They declined to inform him of
the terms under which they would submit to annexation, though offering
to lay them before the congress in Mexico. They based this action on
the ground that if their purpose became known in Salvador a revolution
would certainly follow.[IV-14]

The Mexican commander paid no heed to these ambiguous statements, which
he considered devices to gain time, and continued his march.[IV-15]

[Sidenote: FALL OF ITURBIDE.]

It was at this critical moment that the congress of San Salvador,
carried away by hatred to Guatemala and Mexico, resolved upon a
singular step. On the 2d of December, 1822, the act of incorporation
with Mexico was repealed, and the state was placed under the
protectorate of the Anglo-American states, as an integral portion
thereof. Solemn protests were made in the name of that republic
against Filisola's hostile acts. A member of the congress, Juan Manuel
Rodriguez, was commissioned to make known the incorporation to the
government of the United States.[IV-16] For a short time it seems
that hopes were entertained of an armed protection on the part of
the northern republic in favor of the new acquisition; but soon the
folly of such expectations became apparent. Filisola disregarded the
protests,[IV-17] and after several victorious encounters, routed the
Salvadorans under Arce at Mejicanos,[IV-18] and entered the city of
San Salvador without further opposition on the 9th of February, 1823.
Filisola fulfilled the promise he had made the preceding day to the
ayuntamiento, that he would respect all rights, and not treat the
town as a conquered country. The only Salvadoran force remaining was
compelled, on the 21st of February, to surrender at Gualcince, a town
on the other side of the Lempa River.[IV-19] This was the end of the
war.[IV-20] Arce, who departed for the United States, wrote Filisola
from Belize a letter full of firmness and dignity, meanwhile thanking
him for his humane conduct. Delgado remained at his hacienda. The
local authorities swore allegiance to the Mexican empire. Filisola now
returned to Guatemala,[IV-21] where he arrived about the 6th or 7th
of March. He had already received the news of the movement in Mexico
resulting in the overthrow of Iturbide. It was this that hastened his
return to Guatemala, and induced him to adopt a course opposed to his
last instructions from Mexico. Granada, in Nicaragua, had not been
reduced to obedience. Governor Gonzalez Saravia had asked for troops
to accomplish it, but Filisola declined to employ coercion; and after
informing him and Juan Fernandez Lindo, governor of Honduras,[IV-22]
as well as other officials in the provinces, of the state of affairs in
Mexico, assured them that he would take no important step without first
obtaining their assent. Indeed, after he convinced himself that the
imperial government had fallen never to rise again, he arrived at the
conclusion that he had no right to keep annexed to Mexico the Central
American provinces; as the annexation had been made solely, as claimed
by Mexico and her supporters, for the sake of securing stability to
their government, and the respect which would be afforded it from a
long distance by a great and wealthy country. All this prestige had
disappeared, owing to the revolution at Casa Mata in Mexico,[IV-23] the
paper money, and other arrangements made by Iturbide with reference to
these provinces.

Being asked to summon a congress of all the provinces of Central
America, he complied, issuing a decree on the 29th of March, 1823,
with the view of carrying out the acta of September 15, 1821, which
had been annulled by the incorporation of the country with Mexico.
This was tantamount to a recognition of the independence of Central
America from Mexico.[IV-24] His decree was hailed with joy by the party
friendly to absolute independence. The Mexican or imperialist party
was vanquished, and the people were ready to take an active part in the
coming elections. Peace was not only temporarily restored in Guatemala
and Salvador, but in Nicaragua and Costa Rica party struggles were
brought to a close.

In Granada, Ordoñez had continued committing many outrages.[IV-25]
He had successfully repulsed Saravia, who had come against him from
Leon. The latter was in the act of preparing another expedition, when
Filisola's decree was promulgated, and he was summoned to Guatemala.
Nicaragua subsequently constituted a junta gubernativa of its
own.[IV-26]

In Costa Rica, Saravia, with the aid of Bishop Jerez, attempted to
force the province into the union with Mexico, and with that view
endeavored to overthrow the provincial government established at
Cartago. A conspiracy was planned there, and its authors, seconded
in Ciudad Vieja, openly espoused the cause of Iturbide on the 29th
of March. The men of the liberal party fled to San José, and after
strengthening their ranks there and at Alajuela, attacked the
imperialists on the field of Las Lagunas, near Cartago, and defeated
them.[IV-27] The town had to surrender, and was occupied by the
victorious independents, but the seat of government remained in San
José.[IV-28]

In Honduras, the provincial assembly resolved on the 10th of May to
enter into the union with the other provinces of Central America, with
the view of constituting an independent nation.[IV-29]

[Sidenote: SEPARATION FROM MEXICO.]

Central America then, after a fifteen months' connection with
Mexico, was again in the same position it had occupied at the time
of separation from Spain. No advantages had been derived from that
union; but, on the contrary, numerous heavy taxes had exhausted the
country, though the treasury was invariably empty. The whole country
was suffering from other consequences of the internal wars, in the
form of abuses on the part of unscrupulous political parties and
military chiefs; none worse, however, than the military sway imposed
by Mexico.[IV-30] There have not been wanting those who believe the
separation from the northern republic was a false step.[IV-31] The
people had for centuries lived under the same superior government,
subject only to the Spanish crown. Then followed a period when they
often faced one another as foes. Now they were invited to sit side by
side and discuss measures for the benefit of the great family to which
they all belonged. The elections were conducted with enthusiasm on
the part of the republicans, the field having been left to them by the
imperialists.[IV-32]

Congress assembled on the 24th of June, 1823,[IV-33] under the
presidency of José Matías Delgado,[IV-34] the installation being
graced by the presence of Filisola and the municipal council of the
city.[IV-35]

On the 2d of July following it assumed the name of Asamblea Nacional
Constituyente. The body was in session nineteen months, closing its
labors on the 23d of January, 1825. Its work was momentous, having to
organize a government imbued with the prevailing liberal spirit; to
improve the imperilled finances; to establish relations with foreign
powers; and, what was of the highest importance, to bring unity out
of chaos. The first step toward the accomplishment of these purposes
was taken on the 1st of July, 1823, with the adoption of the ordinance
which declared the provinces of the former captain-generalcy of
Guatemala to be free and independent states, confederated into a nation
under the name of Provincias Unidas del Centro de América.[IV-36]
Inasmuch as a considerable number of representatives had not arrived
on that date, the ordinance was subsequently ratified on the 1st of
October.[IV-37] The new confederation was recognized by Mexico only a
little more than a year after.[IV-38]

[Sidenote: ORGANIZATION.]

Shortly after independence was proclaimed, a division of the powers
of government into three branches was resolved on; namely, the
legislative, to be vested in the asamblea; the executive, composed
of three members, to be elected by and to be subject to that body;
and the judicial, to be exercised by the existing courts.[IV-39] The
executive, as then constituted, was to be merely provisional, and until
a fundamental code should give it a permanent organization. The public
debt was recognized; the catholic religion was declared to be that of
the state; and freedom of the press decreed.

From the moment that the choice of the executive occupied the attention
of the assembly a division of parties became manifest. The friends of
absolute independence formed a large majority; those of the former
Mejicanistas were few in number. The larger portion of the deputies
was composed of the best men of the country, whatever their party
affiliations, and their intentions were upright. Those of moderate
views from all sections formed themselves into one party, and went
by the name of moderados; their opponents applying to them the
epithets of servil and aristócrata.[IV-40] The radicals formed another
organization, and were called fiebres and liberales, their enemies also
giving them the appellation of anarquistas.

The liberal party advocated the establishment of a federal republic,
and as a rule was guided by a liberal patriotism, and a desire to
see the abolishment of unjust privileges and antiquated vices in the
government. Its opponents, in favor of a centralized government and
the continuation of the old fueros, struggled against the restrictions
that were being put to the influence of Guatemala. Nevertheless, a
liberal spirit predominated for a time, and three well-known liberals
were chosen to constitute the executive authority, namely, Manuel José
Arce,[IV-41] Doctor Pedro Molina, and Juan Vicente Villacorta.[IV-42]
It must be acknowledged that this government was not a strong one,
the only man of superior talent in it being Molina, and he had little
experience wherewith to found a republic and manage its affairs at such
a critical period.

A constantly increasing coolness between the government and Filisola
became intensified when the deputies from Costa Rica and Nicaragua
refused to occupy their seats in the assembly while a Mexican army
had virtual sway over the capital. Complaints also came from various
quarters, of abuses committed by the Mexican soldiers,[IV-43] and
demands were made for their departure. Some time elapsed in discussions
and negotiations, partly because of difficulty in raising the needed
funds. But finally, all obstacles being removed, Filisola departed with
his force on the 3d of August, 1823, leaving behind him a good name,
which was little affected by charges preferred against him at a later
date.[IV-44]

The liberals now were at greater liberty to carry out their plans,
which involved, among other things, the disappearance of old practices,
including titles and compellations,[IV-45] not even the hackneyed 'don'
escaping the general reformatory tendency.[IV-46] A coat of arms was
likewise decreed, showing the national name in golden letters,[IV-47]
as also a flag, the latter consisting of three horizontal stripes, the
middle one being white, with the national coat of arms about half-way
from the mast, and the other two blue.

  [Illustration: SEAL OF CENTRAL AMERICA.]

[Sidenote: DECREES OF THE GOVERNMENT.]

Among other decrees enacted by the assembly in 1823, the following are
worthy of mention: One of August 21st, to annul all acts of the late
imperial government affecting Central America; one of August 26th,
declaring the 15th of September to be the national anniversary, and
how it was to be observed—this decree was reiterated by the legislative
assembly on the 15th of October, 1834; one of October 27th, directing
the Central American deputies—those of Chiapas excepted—to withdraw
from the Mexican congress; and one of November 15th, to form a general
census.[IV-48]

[Sidenote: ARIZA'S REVOLT.]

Another measure adopted was that which authorized the executive to
dismiss without formality all officials having their appointments
from the Spanish or Mexican governments. Little discretion was shown
in this, and discontent resulted, which was made manifest in the
opposition met with by every measure of the government, even such
as were generally recognized to be of public utility. Financial and
military affairs were in the worst possible condition. To improve the
former was a difficult task, the expenses being greater than during
the colonial period, and several branches of revenue, which formerly
yielded considerable resources, having disappeared with the old
dependence.[IV-49] As to the army, the greater part of it had been
disbanded, and only one battalion of the regular force and a few bodies
of militia formed the entire defensive power of the republic. The
government was almost at the mercy of a handful of men, and it was not
long before they exhibited their lack of discipline and loyalty. The
soldiers had for some time past shown dissatisfaction at the neglect of
the government to pay them their dues. Under the circumstances, it was
rather easy to prevail on them to revolt, and it was done, the leader
being Captain Rafael Ariza y Torres.[IV-50] The authorities, though
aware of his machinations, had taken no decisive measures to defeat
them,[IV-51] other than commissioning Ignacio Larrazábal to make an
investigation. Ariza, fearing that delay might cause the failure of
his plan, in the evening of the 13th of September assumed the title of
commander-in-chief of the forces; and the next morning[IV-52] volleys
of musketry and other manifestations apprised the alarmed inhabitants
of the insurrection. A scene of excitement ensued. The assembly hastily