seem to have endeared the land to the inhabitants rather than frightened them away. They clung to the city as the people of San Sebastiano, under the shadow of Vesuvius, cling to their homes. In 1773 it had two thousand five hundred inhabitants, and was second only to the City of Mexico in its wealth and the beauty of its architecture. Situated some five thousand feet above sea-level, it was surrounded by rich and well-cultivated fields, and its inhabitants enjoyed the luxuries of life. In that year, however, came terrible seismic disturbances, which laid the city in ruins and killed one hundred and thirty of the inhabitants. But again, like San Francisco of our own day, a new city arose, though on a neighboring site, and by 1800 was almost completed. The old capital, or Guatemala Antigua, is still in existence to the present day, but is far inferior to the new city in importance.

During the eighteenth century and the latter part of the seventeenth, some of the native tribes rose in revolt and every effort was made to subdue them. The expeditions met with some success, but one of the most warlike of the tribes, the Lacandones, it is said, have kept their independence to the present day. As we shall see, the Indians of this region preserve their original characteristics more faithfully than those of any other portion of Central America. Some writers attribute this fact to their pacific disposition, which left them undisturbed, but many of the tribes were by no means pacific. Other writers believe that their sullen resistance to the Spaniards prevented them from coming so fully under the influence of the conquerors. It should be added that the natives of the northern part of Central America more nearly resembled those of Mexico, and were of a more advanced type than those of the southern portion.

In a general review of the history of Central America from its discovery to the close of the eighteenth century, the historian Bancroft finds little in the government of Spain to praise and much to condemn. "We have seen," he says, "the sword and the cross side by side, without a shadow of

right and recompense, enter in and take possession of the broad area from Darien to New Spain; then sitting down to wrangle and to rest. During the process of gradual extinction the natives broke out in occasional rebellions, but for the most part they were docile and submitted with philosophic or Christian resignation to the inevitable, which was too often infamous on the part of civilization and Christianity." He adds that it was "a period of repose, the two and a half centuries of Central America's existence under Spain's audiences and governors, a period of apathy and stagnation as far as intellectual and moral progress are concerned. Nor is there much to be said in the way of material improve. The buccaneers and Scotch settlers were right enough in looking upon the Spaniards as intruders, having no more ownership in the country than they, except such as priority in wrongs committed gave them."

ment.

Such an arraignment of Spanish conquest and rule in Central America might be made with equal justice against the conduct of all the governments of Europe that have established themselves on this side of the Atlantic. To the present writer it seems a narrow and one-sided view of the aims and results of colonization among the barbarous tribes of America. The Spanish conquest, like the English or the French, may be looked upon in a larger way as an important step in the spread of civilization. It is true that this conquest was accompanied by many unjustifiable acts of cruelty-most of which were characteristic of the age-but even these are extenuated by the noble self-sacrifice of the missionaries who labored successfully to abolish human sacrifices and the enslavement of the natives, while striving less successfully to supplant the gospel of war with the gospel of peace. The life and teaching of Las Casas cast a kindly radiance over the entire period of subjugation. It should be remembered, also, that the conquest, though its details are repugnant to our sense of right, was heartily approved by the international law of the time. Now that the glamour that formerly invested the Indians of Cortés's day has been removed,

we see that even in Mexico they had not advanced beyond the middle stage of barbarism, and even the law of the twentieth century does not admit that barbarism has any rights which a civilized nation need respect.

We have already seen in this work that the coming of the Spaniards seemed to promise the gradual extinction of the natives, but those that survived profited immeasurably by the introduction of Christianity and of organized labor. Moreover, after they had passed through the severe ordeals to which the Spaniards subjected them, they seem to have increased in numbers and to have amalgamated with the Spaniards to a much greater extent than was the case in North America. The traveller Squier, who, as American chargé d'affaires, visited Central America in 1855—and it may have been true of a still earlier period-said it was the concurrent testimony of all intelligent persons in Central America that the pure whites were decreasing relatively and absolutely, and that the pure Indians were increasing rapidly, while the Ladinos (half-breeds) were more and more approximating to the original type.

During the long period that closed with the eighteenth century, Central America certainly contrasted unfavorably with English North America in mental, moral, and material progress. Whatever the mental and moral stagnation may have been due to, the lack of material progress may be attributed not only to the insalubrity of the climate in the lowlands, and the prodigality of nature which supplies the wants of man with such abundance that he is not encouraged to labor, but more especially to another cause. This was the almost total lack of self-government. Those who have no voice in political affairs and who receive their laws wholly from the mother-country, will not show the activity and the enterprise which distinguish self-governed communities. The nineteenth century thus opens a new era in Central American history.

CHAPTER XIII

REVOLT AND INDEPENDENCE

In order to understand the momentous events in Central America which ushered in the nineteenth century and led to independence, it will be necessary briefly to review the history of the mother-country during the first quarter of that For the important political changes that followed one another in Spain from 1808 to 1823 were accurately reflected on this side of the Atlantic.

In 1805 the combined fleets of Spain and France were defeated at Trafalgar by Lord Nelson, and the naval power of the two countries was completely broken. Two years later, Napoleon, who was now the dominant force in continental politics, began to send French troops into Spain, and soon the northern portions of the country were occupied by one hundred thousand of his soldiers. In 1808 the French marched on Madrid, and King Charles IV was obliged to abdicate in favor of his son, who became Ferdinand VII. Napoleon, however, had other plans for Spain. Having caused Ferdinand and his whole family to be transported to France, he held him and his father in his power until he compelled them to resign their claims to the throne. Then following his policy of advancing his own family, he gave the crown of Spain to his brother Joseph, the King of Naples. The chief council of Spain was induced to accept this imposition of a king, dictated by the tyrant of France; but the Spanish people, who had not been consulted as to

the change of rulers, rose in insurrection throughout many districts. An alliance with Great Britain brought the famous Wellington into Portugal, where he soon won an important victory over the French under Junot.

Napoleon now felt compelled to lead a large army into Spain for the restoration of his own power and that of his brother. While he remained in the country, he and his generals were eminently successful in reinstating French influence; but no sooner had war with Austria forced his departure than his generals found themselves struggling in vain against the hatred of the people and the increasing power of Wellington. By 1813 the French had nearly all been driven out of the country. In the same year Ferdinand VII, who had been kept a prisoner by Napoleon, was permitted to return to his distracted kingdom.

Spain, however, during his absence, had made great progress towards liberal government, while Ferdinand, like the Bourbons of France, "had learned nothing and forgotten nothing." In 1812 the central revolutionary junta at Seville had drawn up and published a constitution, which had great significance not only for Spain, but also for her colonial possessions. It established for Spain a constitutional monarchy; for the Indies it made important provisions. For instance, instead of the old cabildos in the town and cities, the offices of which were hereditary and could be sold, a local government was instituted, composed of members chosen by electors who had been chosen by the people. These new cabildos, which were to have charge of the internal police of their respective towns, were under the inspection of a governor, appointed in each province by the king, and of a council of seven, chosen by the electors. This council, which was to have charge of the economic matters of the province, was subject, like the city councils, to an appeal to the national Parliament or Córtes of Spain. Equality of representation was granted, except that descendants of Africans were deprived of political rights unless by special act in the case of worthy free-men-of-color. The provinces being regarded