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Guatemala And: Viii
Guatemala And: Viii
ARMS OF GUATEMALA.
first
ordinary legislature, which met on the 1st of
February, a law was passed for new elections to fill
the council. But these and other arbitrary measures
of the liberal party gave rise to such warm discus
sions in the assembly, that Barrundia at last ignored
the authority of the council as then existing. 7 The
7
Barrundia induced seven of the deputies to abandon their seats, and to
protest agaiast resolutions enacted by the legislature after they had quitted
it. Marure,
Dosq. Hist. Cent. Am., i. 242.
148 GUATEMALA AND HONDURAS.
8
This step was taken Sept. 6, 1826. Harare, Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., i. 200;
Mem,. Rev. Cent. Am., 53-4. A demand from the fed. gov. to muster out the
troops was refused in round terms.
9
He had once been a resident there, and knew it to be the most bigoted
place in all Cent. Am. Liberal ideas had not taken much root there, and
fanaticism ruled.
10
He afterward attempted to recover his office, but the course events had
taken impeded it. Mem. Rev. Cent. Am., 57-8.
11
A creole from Sto Domingo, who had been formerly a federal officer; but
having been arbitrarily removed from the position, he joined the state cause.
PIERZON S CAMPAIGN. 149
17
Oct. 28, 1826. Cdscaras vainglorious report is in Guat., Gnc. Gob., Nov.
2, 1826, and Mex. Gac. Gob., Dec. 14, 1826; Marure, Efem., 18; Mem. Rev.
Cent. Am., 59-60.
18
All persons affording them aid were declared, on the 5th of March, guilty
of high treason. Guat., Recop. Leyes, i. 250-4. Decree reiterated March 28,
1827; Marure, Efem., 19.
19
All authorities agree that the execution was effected upon the mere order
of Aycinena, the then jefe of Guat., and without legal formalities. Arce,
Mem., 68; Mem. Rev. Cent. Am., 70; Astaburuaga, Cent. Am., 16; Squier s
Travels, ii. 397. This last-named writer severely condemns the affected piety
of Aycinena, who made confession before a priest and took the communion
before signing the death-warrant. In 1829 the liberal party awarded extraor
dinary honors to Pierzon s memory, ordering that his name should be placed
by the side of Cirilo Flores, with this inscription, Viva el ilustre Coronel
Tierzon en el corazon de los buenos patriotas. Marure, Efem., 19.
Aycinena retained his position uninterruptedly till the 12th of Apr.,
-20
21
was the first of its class in Cent. Am., but by no means the last.
It
22
Lieut Isidro Velazquez was executed March 30, 1827.
23
Leniency toward the proscribed Antonio Rivera Cabezas, whose death-
penalty he had commuted to exile, and prohibition of certain books, pursuant
to decrees of the ecclesiastical authorities, were among the chief causes which
clienated him many of his former supporters. Montujar, liesena Hist., i. 236;
Mem. Rev. Cent. Am., 114. On the 6th of December, 1828, he ordered such
books to be burned. Marure, Efem., 22.
152 GUATEMALA AND HONDURAS.
del Valle with his grave and erudite speeches in congress. He won himself
the bitter hatred of that party. The political change of 1839 placed him ia
the hands of his enemies, and he lost much of his property. He left the
154 GUATEMALA AND HONDURAS.
While
internal dissensions were exciting the people
of Guatemala, they were forced to undergo, on the
23d of April, 1830, the tribulations resulting from one
of the severest shocks of earthquake experienced in
the country. 37 Nearly all the inhabitants passed the
night in the streets, public squares, or in the open
fields. The assembly adjourned the following day,
and the state authorities removed to Jocotenango.
Fortunately, no more shocks occurred, and the public
alarm gradually subsided, the damage done being less
than had been supposed. 38 The clergy made use of
the earthquakes to arouse the rabble against the
39
liberals.
Leycx, i. 858-9.
49
The provisional government was placed in charge of Marcelo Molina,
Jos6 M. Galvez, and Jos6 A. Aguilur. The assembly of Guatemala simply
referred the matter to the federal congress, which recognized the new state.
Moutujar, liexefia lli$t. iii. 9-23; Guat., Recop. Leyes, i. 43.
t
STATE OF LOS ALTOS. 157
Los ALTOS.
52
spirit of fraternity. The state concluded with Sal
vador, on the 10th of August, a treaty defensive and
offensive, but it came to naught, for reasons that will
be explained.
60
Marure, Efem., 47.
61
The
state comprised, on the north, the districts of Huehuetenango, Saca-
pulas, Malacatan, Tejutla, Cuilco, Jacaltenango, and Solola, together with
all the territory between the river Pasion and Chiapas, to where it touched
the undefined boundaries of Tabasco and Yucatan; on the west, Ostuncalco
and San Marcos; on the south, Cuyotenango and Mazatenango; on the east,
Atitlan, Solola, Joyabaj, Quichd; and in the centre, Totonicapan and Quezal
tenango. Montufar, Resena Hist., iii. 391-3.
"Dated July 12, 1839. Id., 394-7.
153 GUATEMALA AND HONDURAS.
From
the moment Rivera Paz was made the pro
visionalhead of the state government, reaction set in
and went on with flying colors. Measures in conso
nance with the wishes of the retrogressionists were
adopted one after another as fast as they could be
drawn up. 58 These decrees should have satisfied Car-
rera and his supporters; but it seems that they did
not; his faction became more and more recalcitrant.
lie found himself closely pressed; but, unfortunately,
General Guzman was persuaded to enter into arrange
ments with him at llll Rinconcito. This, however,
did not bring peace to the state for any length of
time.
In the latter part of January 1839 Rivera Paz was
deposed by Carlos Salazar, military commander of
59
Guatemala, but reinstalled by Carrera on the 13th
60
of April. This disturbed condition lasted some time
longer. The state declared itself independent on the
1 7th of
April of the same year, and the only form of
union maintained with the other states was by special
61
treaties of allowance, in which the states mutually
62
by the assembly had little weight. The only im
portant ones were the restoration of the fuero ecle-
63
siastico, and the creation of a medical faculty in the
university. Thus, after sixteen years of continual
strife, Guatemala found herself again an independent
and impoverished state. Neither of the parties which
had striven supremacy had gained anything. The
for
commonwealth was practically under the dictatorship
of an Indian chieftain, whose will even those who had
helped him to attain his position dared not dispute.
62
Honors were paid to Carrera and Rivera Paz. Their portraits were to
be placed in the hall of sessions. Marure, Efem., 53. A few days later the
19th of March was decreed a civic feast-day. Guat., Recop. Leyes, iii. 348.
63
Act of Nov. 9, 1840. Id., 286.
64
Not at Aguanqueteric, as the federal congress had decreed. Astaburuagi,
Cent. Am., 13; Marure, Efem., 10. The last named, in his LJosq. Hint. Cent.
Am., 148, gives the name as Leypateric.
65
Comayagua, Tegucigalpa, Gracias, Santa Barbara, Olancho, Yoro, and
Clioluteca.
HIST. CENT. AM.. VOL. III. 11
152 GUATEMALA AND HONDURAS.
The
declaration of independence was solemnly pro
mulgated in a single sentence on the 26th of October,
1838. 77 All further efforts on the part of Morazan
and his fellow- federalists to restore the disrupted re
public proved unavailing, as we have seen.
78
At the
end of January 1840, the secessionists were victorious,
and federalism was rooted out.
I append a list of Honduras rulers after Mora
zan s short provisional administration in 1 827-28. 79
it should be declared. This was the work of the returned reactionists. Id.,
279-82.
77
Art. Unico. El estado de Honduras eslibre, soberano, independiente.
e"
It was published by the acting jcfe, Leon Alvarado. The declaration being
deemed insufficient by the secessionists, another act was passed on the 5th of
Nov., to say that Honduras was independent of the late federal government,
of the governments of the other states of Cent. Am., and of any other gov
ernment or foreign power. Id. 282; Marure, Efom., 47.
,
Tegucigalpa had been twice taken, and Comayagua once, by the federal
78