From this list, however, we must except the city of Guatemala; which, not only on account of its structure, but from the circumstance of its being the capital of the new republic, deserves particularly to be mentioned. Guatemala is the fourth city which has borne the name. The first was that Guatemala which was the residence of the kings of the Rachiqueles, and which has so entirely disappeared that the Spanish historians are still at issue as to the spot where it existed. The second was founded by the Adelantado* Alvarado, in 1524, between two volcanoes, as a temporary establishment, until he could select a more appropriate situation; but finding none such, the inhabitants resolved to remain stationary, approaching somewhat nearer to the east, at the bottom of the volcano called Volcan de Agua, a most fertile and pleasant site, the temperature of which is rather cold, with a wholesome atmosphere, and a soil well supplied with cool and salubrious waters. In that situation the conqueror Alvarado founded the city on the 22d November, 1527; and very soon afterwards it was peopled by that cloud of locusts which then followed the Spanish army, in other words, by the Dominican, Franciscan, and La Merced Friars, the Hermits of our Lady, the begging hermits, those of the True Cross, and by all the rest of their innumerable family. The city, however, at first increased but slowly, having been inundated and desolated, on the night of the 11th September, 1541, by a tremendous torrent of water which issued from the volcano, destroying with its flood, trees, houses, and inhabitants; by reason of which disaster that city (called Ciudad Viaja) was rebuilt on the supposed site of the old Guatemala, (Antigua Guatemala.) This third city of Guatemala was founded in a pleasant valley, encompassed by woods and ever-verdant hills, enjoying a moderate temperature, and blest, as it were, with a perpetual spring. In the cathedral of this Guatemala were buried the mortal remains of the Adelantado Alvarado. This city was also peopled by Dominican, Franciscan, and La Merced friars, as well as by Jesuits. It contained ten monasteries of regulars, and five convents of nuns, who, as the author of the MONACOLOGY justly observes, are rarely found far apart, being like plants among which the male and female of each species are always seen in contiguity. There was likewise a convent of the order of La Conception, of such vast extent, that nuns, novices, and servants, to the amount of more than a thousand, are said to have inhabited it : but notwithstanding the presence of so many Seraphic inhabitants, the city was unfortunately shaken by frequent earthquakes, from the visitations of which it was doomed several times to be destroyed. At last, the place having again been partly laid waste by the earthquake of 1773, the inhabitants, tired of ruin and of so often rebuilding their domiciles, resolved to remove to a spot further distant from the volcano and the misfortunes it occasioned, making choice for that purpose of the valley of Mixco, where in 1776 the new Guatemala was erected. * Adelantado, in old Spanish, signifies the military and political government of a province on the confines of a kingdom-Præfectus, Præses. Jan.-VOL. XVI. NO. LXI. F New Guatemala, the capital of the republic, is built in a spacious plain, five leagues in diameter, watered and fertilized by various rivulets and considerable lakes, under a smiling sky, and enjoying a benignant climate; so much so, that throughout the year woollen or silk stuffs may be worn indiscriminately. The streets of the city are straight, tolerably long, and in general paved. The houses, though built low, for fear of earthquakes, are nevertheless commodious, pretty in appearance, and have gardens and orchards attached to them. The principal plaza is a large square, of which each side measures 150 yards, well paved, with porticoes all around. In front of it is the cathedral, built by an Italian artist, in a correct and magnificent style of architecture. On one side of the cathedral is the archiepiscopal palace, and on the other one of the seminaries. In front of the cathedral is erected the palace of government, near which stands the palace of justice, and in the middle of the square plays a fountain, slightly carved. The churches of Guatemala are all handsomely and elegantly constructed; and attention is particularly arrested by a beautiful amphitheatre of stone, destined for the barbarons amusement of bull-baiting; and in this building, by way of refinement in cruelty, combats between jaguars and bulls have sometimes been exhibited. There is a well-built university, where law, theology, medicine, mathematics, and natural history, are taught; to which are attached a small library, and an anatomical museum, with several curious preparations in wax. The city possesses, besides, an academy for the fine arts, an elegantly constructed mint, very deficient, however, in the machinery employed in European establishments of the same kind. To remedy this deficiency, the government has lately commissioned an individual, at present in London, to purchase one of Bolton's machines. This mint has always been in active employment; and from it was issued, in 1824, the recent gold and silver coin, stamped with the newly-devised armorial bearings adopted by the republic; exhibiting on one side a tree, with the motto "Libre cresca y fecundo," and on the other a rising sun enlightening five mountains, emblematical of the five federal states. According to the census, instituted by order of Señor Del Valle, while he was president of the republic, the population of Guatemala exceeds 40,000 souls. The city is nine Spanish leagues distant from the ancient Guatemala; ninety leagues from the sea on the north, twenty-six from the Pacific ocean, and four hundred from the city of Mexico. The federal congress and the senate are the most valuable establishments of this capital, and cannot fail to render it flourishing and celebrated in time to come. These two bodies conjointly exercising the legislative power, assemble in two distinct halls, founded on the site of the old university. In the first national assembly more than eighty deputies took their seats. At the present time the federal congress reckons but forty-six representatives, and the senate is composed of ten members. The senate-house has been lately adorned in a simple and dignified style. The hall of congress is in no way remarkable, and its walls are covered with velvet and damask. It has a gallery for the public; and behind the president's chair is a kind of balcony, where ladies may be present at the debates. It is an incontrovertible fact that eloquence is rare in all assemblies where the members are few in number. As writers are warmed into enthusiasm by possessing in imagination an uncontrollable dominion over the judgment and applause of posterity: in like manner the presence of a numerous auditory excites the passions and gives a zest to the imaginative powers of the orator. The limited number of deputies in the federal congress of Guatemala, curtailing the space for the expansion of the majestical and far-extending wings of eloquence, may therefore be assigned as the true cause of the languid state of the present oratory of the country. Last June, however, a sitting was held in the hall of congress, not less important from the nature of the discussions which took place, than on account of the animated speeches delivered on the occasion; and the subject being interesting to humanity collectively, it may not perhaps be amiss to give a detailed account of the proceedings. One of the first acts of the constituent assembly of Guatemala was the abolition of slavery, which disgrace of civilized ages was annihilated by a decree of the 17th of April, 1824. Nevertheless the law wisely settled a rate of indemnity for the owners of slaves. Señor del Valle, ever foremost in the paths of patriotism and humanity, was very urgent in recommending such a compensation, and his example was followed by the greater part of the proprietors. The number of slaves at that time in the republic did not exceed five hundred. The epoch of that decree was observed by the government as a season of festivity and jubilee; and the legislative power, rejoicing in the benefit done to humanity, declared in its message that the decrees of the assembly deserved to be registered on tablets of brass, in the hall of the assembly, as one of its greatest ornaments. In process of time the constitution was promulgated by the national assembly, and confirmed the abolition of slavery by the 13th article, worded as follows: "Every man in the republic is free; and no one who takes refuge under its laws can be a slave, nor shall any one be accounted a citizen who carries on the slave-trade." By means of this article the republic was placed by the constitution on a footing with the temples of the ancients, which served as an asylum to the unfortunate. In consequence, during last spring, one hundred slaves, belonging to the English settlers at Belize, fled from the colony, and sought refuge in the republic. The superintendent of the establishment demanded the restitution of the fugitives. The executive, in the message with which it forwarded the demand to the legislative power, gave its opinion in favour of the required restitution: influenced, no doubt, by an apprehension that the British Government would not tamely permit a refusal to be given, which would so materially tend to alarm its subjects, proprietors of slaves in the West Indies, where slavery is still tolerated. The public of Guatemala, on that account, were anxious to know the resolve of the legislative power upon so delicate an affair. The 6th of June was fixed for the debate, and the hall of congress was crowded to excess. Attention and anxiety were visible on every face; and so intensely were the feelings acted on, that the eyelids seemed to cease from their involuntary motion during the period of suspense. The deputy, Alvarado, opened the debate. "Era este noble mozo de alto hecho, De cuerpo grande y relevado pecho."* These verses, with which Ercilla pourtrays Caupolicon in the Araucana, convey a correct idea of Alvarado. On that occasion he brought the constitution to the view of the congress; thus addressing it: "This is the sacred Ægis, under cover of which the slaves of Belize have taken refuge; and I call on you to recollect that you have sworn to maintain it inviolate. Shall we break that oath so shortly after having pronounced it? What are commercial interests, when put in competition with the paramount duty of preserving justice? They should weigh as a feather in the balance! England, it is true, protects the interests of her traders; but is she not bound still more to prefer and protect the sanctity of oaths?" The whole harangue of the orator, besides being animated by the glowing sentiments of a generous heart, was interwoven with brilliant sentences of manly logic, and obtained from the auditory, whose emotions sympathized with the words he uttered, reiterated expressions of approbation. After him arose an opponent, who, with all the powers of oratory, exerted himself to prove the propriety of the restitution, and, by quotations from ancient and modern history, to show that the principles of justice, which ought to regulate the conduct of individuals, cannot be always made applicable to a state. Many other deputies followed on the same false side of the argument: but Señor Alvarado was not disheartened; and returning to the charge, adduced fresh arguments in reply; declaring in conclusion, that if the English Government should insist on recovering possession of the slaves by force, he would prefer to fall a victim to violence rather than become an accomplice to injustice. These last words, pronounced loudly and with impassioned emphasis, by an orator whose countenance was invariably clothed with an air of sadness, again drew down the plaudits of his hearers, whose hearts were without exception in unison with justice.† Notwithstanding, however, the manly resistance of Señor Alvarado, the discussion was eventually decided by a majority in favour of the contrary opinion; and in consequence the congress ordered the restitution of the slaves-a decision which fortunately was subject to the revision of the senate. That second legislative chamber, therefore, resumed the discussion, and pronounced an opposite decision, declaring the slaves to be free; but at the same time uniting the rights of liberty with the claims of property, it determined to award a just compensa * "That noble youth was of great spirit, a man of authority, grave and stern, never swerving from what was right, and rigorously enforcing justice: tall in stature, with a high breast." + Señor Alvarado is in high esteem with his countrymen, by reason of the firmness and intrepidity of his character. He was not long since condemned to death by the Spaniards, for having been one of the first favourers of Independence. His trial had been gone through, and he was placed in the church, to be conducted afterwards to the gibbet, when he was providentially saved. This fearful incident of his life gave a melancholy cast to his visage, and impressed his mind with a horror of injustice. tion to the English owners of the slaves. Does not the revision of the preceding decision prove, in an incontrovertible manner, the necessity of a second chamber to preserve the equilibrium of the legislative power? The senators, who most distinguished themselves in the discussion in favour of these slaves, were the Señors Barrundia, Alvarado, Alcayagua, and Mendez. Wars, revolutions, and political catastrophes, invariably bring forward great characters. Guatemala, which has experienced none of these violent political convulsions, cannot present us with a series of illustrious warriors, or of extraordinary men. Nevertheless this republic, even in the course of ordinary events, has produced enlightened and zealous patriots, who might well be placed in rivalry with many illustrious characters who have done honour to their country. Señor Barrundia, at present a member of the senate, is a native of the state of Guatemala. Previously to the declaration of Independence, he was a naval officer, and suffered much in the cause of liberty. Always poor, yet ever honourable, he often displayed his disinterested disposition by refusing many employments which were pressed on his acceptance. Public opinion and esteem pointed him out for the situation of President of the Committee charged with arranging the outlines of the constitution; and to his assiduity the public is indebted for a great portion of that labour. He is about thirty-two years of age, fair, with a fine aspect and interesting physiognomy. He speaks with eloquence, notwithstanding a certain degree of difficulty in his delivery--a defect which is amply compensated by a sonorous enunciation and dignified gesticulation. He is considered by all parties as a man of unimpeachable integrity. Father Alcayagua, formerly a meraber of the constituent assembly, is one of the senators. This priest, rector of the village of Duenas, was also a member of the committee for preparing the constitution, and took a distinguished part in its formation. He possesses an amiable disposition; and his countenance, which age has now rendered venerable, is distinguished by strong traces of amenity. Highly gifted with intelligence, he is decidedly liberal. But though his conduct is irreproachable, when he sat in the constituent assembly he was denounced as a heretic. Such unfounded calumny is unfortunately not without precedent. During the reign of ignorance, learning among an unenlightened people was always a motive for founding accusations of heresy and sorcery. The senator Alvarado, brother of the deputy, is another clergyman of spotless character and severe principles. His stately and imposing figure, his inflexibility in doing what is just and upright, and his intrepid patriotism, make him more worthy to immortalize the name than the Conqueror Alvarado, from whom he is descended. Don Francisco Sosa, an ardent patriot in the commencement of Independence, is the present minister of justice and public worship in the interior. He is thirty years old, highly educated, with fine manners and a graceful mien; and was a deputy in the national assembly, and a member of the committee for preparing the constitution. Don Jose del Valle deserves to rank foremost among his countrymen. Every thing combines in this patriot to gain him the esteem of his fellow-citizens and the respect of foreigners. Thoroughly versed |