340 



GUATEMALA. 



should be Guatemalese, should bo citizens; 

 the natives of other parts of Central America 

 sbould become citizens by the mere fact of re- 

 siding in the country ; aud natives of any 

 other Spanish-American state by a residence 

 of one year. 



The qualifications of voters were decided to 

 be as follows: to have completed twenty -one 

 years of age, and to know how to read and 

 write, or possess a capital of not less than 

 $1,000. Married citizens, with either of the 

 last two qualifications, might vote at the age 

 of eighteen. 



The sixty-sixth session of the Constituent 

 Assembly was held on the 7th of January, 

 forty members and the provisional President, 

 attended by the Ministers of the Interior and 

 of the Treasury, being present. Senor Gra- 

 nados, after returning thanks for the vote 

 of confidence accorded to him, delivered a 

 lengthy discourse on the political condition 

 and prospects of the republic. 



The official journal of Guatemala, of January 

 7th, contained an announcement to the effect 

 that, on the 18th of the same month, an act of 

 treason had been committed by Colonel V. 

 Mendez Cruz, the political chief of the depart- 

 ment of Aiuatitlan. Taking advantage of his 

 position, he pronounced against the Govern- 

 ment, taking with him the fifty men of the 

 garrison and some one hundred criminals from 

 the prison, all well armed. The Government 

 was informed of the movement, and that the 

 people of Amatitlnn had remained quiet. Colo- 

 nel Julio Garcia Granados was dispatched with 

 a force of one hundred and sixty men, in pur- 

 suit of the rebels, who, after a short skirmish 

 on the heights of Pinul a, fled, leaving a number 

 of killed, nnd some prisoners. At Tabacal they 

 made another stand, but were forced again to 

 fly, and were entirely dispersed. The report 

 was that Mendez Cruz was in flight with only 

 nine soldiers, of whom five were cavalry. A 

 good number of Remington rifles were recap- 

 tured. Mendez Cruz was shot four days after- 

 ward by another band of rebels, to whom he 

 was unknown. 



In Jntinpa, the small garrison of twenty- 

 five men had been attacked by a party of 

 rebels, but these were driven off with three or 

 four killed, and their leader, Donis, mortally 

 wounded. 



The revolutionary movement not having 

 subsided up to February 1st, the Government 

 issued a decree declaring the departments of 

 the Centre and the East in a state of siege. 

 General Barrios gave the rebels fifteen days to 

 lay down their arms and return peacefully to 

 their home*. 



Guatemala, San Salvador, and Honduras, en- 

 tered into a mutual agreement to permit each 

 other's troops, whenever they were in pursuit 

 of rebels, to pass unmolested through their 

 respective territories. 



The town of Escuintla was taken on the 

 llth of February by two hundred rebels, who 



opened the jail and liberated the prisoners, car- 

 ried oti" the cannon, burned the municipal ar- 

 chives, and sacked a largo number of private 

 dwellings. 



The President, in March, visited the dis- 

 turbed departments, said the people unani- 

 mously signified their adhesion to the int- 

 ernment. 



During the absence of General Garcia Gra- 

 nados. General Barrios, acting President of the 

 republic, considering that the clergy c 

 like other citizens, in temporal matters. 

 subject to the common, civil, and penal laws 

 of the republic, and enjoy only such prh \ 

 and exemptions as are established there! . 

 sued a decree abolishing Mfutrut, both in eivil 

 and criminal cases, and enforcing the Articles 

 XV. and XVI. of the concordat issued by the 

 Pope, October 7, 1852. This decree was 

 prompted by the belief that several j>r 

 forgetful of their mission, had begun to preach 

 sedition. 



It is thought that this decree, nnd another for 

 the establishment of religious freedom, would 

 remove two of the principal obstacles in the 

 way of immigration into the republic. The 

 immediate eftect of the first was to suggest the 

 organization of an army to wage war ;.- 

 the Government, and which was styled by its 

 leaders " The Reactionary Army of the Holy 

 Fathers." This band, some 400 strong, kept 

 up a harassing guerrilla warfare for 

 than a month in the mountainous districts ; 

 and the Government was put to no little trou- 

 ble and expense to overcome it, and reestab- 

 lish peace. 



Some time afterward, a decree was issued 

 to the effect that such persons as desired to 

 become exempt from military duty should pay 

 $10 each, if belonging to the laboring ch. 

 and $15, if of any superior class. 



In the month of May. (uiieral Garcia Gra- 

 nados issued a decree inviting the people to 

 elect a new constitutional President, so that 

 they might profit, by the daw ning era of peace, 

 to complete the organization of the Govern- 

 ment. 



The two candidates accepted by the country 

 were SeBor Granados himself, and hi> t-ul'sti- 

 tute, Sefior Barrios. The franchise of this 

 election seems to have hem perfectly unre- 

 strained, and numerous printed sheets, con- 

 taining the expression of public opinion re- 

 specting the two candidates, were put freely 

 in circulation. All the foreigners, a majority 

 of the Liberal party, and a fair portion of tin- 

 old Conservatives, were upholding General Bar- 

 rios as the man of the occasion, and as a high- 

 toned Liberal, who had given many proofs of 

 his independent spirit. Barrios, above meas- 

 ure, had given general satisfaction, < \rc pt to a 

 small circle of ultramontanes. He was eh 

 to the presidency by a large majority. 



According to the official periodical of Gua- 

 temala, under date July 4th, all the city mu- 

 nicipalities, in the name of the people, sent 



