GUATEMALA. 



GUTHRIE, THOMAS. 



347 



in their adhesion to the Government in view 

 of the threatened invasion of the republic by 

 Enrique Palacios ; and it was officially stated 

 that the Government of Guatemala had dic- 

 tuted the necessary measures to be taken to 

 nid Honduras in repelling the invasion ; and 

 further, that Salvador, as an ally of Guate- 

 mala, would, if necessary, do the same. 



The feuds between the Government and the 

 Church existed as late as the middle of July. 

 The Government accused certain bishops of 

 being reactionary in their principles and prac- 

 tice, which elicited an animated protestation 

 from the prelates. Matters wont BO far that 

 President Barrios decreed the banishment of 

 Don Francisco Espinosa, Archbishop of Guate- 

 mala, from the country. The archbishop de- 

 nied the accusations brought against him by 

 the Government. The latter considered that 

 Enrique Palacios, then heading the Sherman 

 Expedition against Honduras, being a relative 

 of Senor Espinosa, was not likely to be im- 

 partial. Besides, he had been believed by the 

 public to bo one of the chief reactionary sup- 

 ports in favor of the rebel factions in the 

 country. The President said that, although 

 he regretted it, he considered the banishment 

 of the prelate necessary to the peace of the 

 republic. 



With this determined measure ended all the 

 broils with the Church party, and General 

 Barrios had no longer any serious obstacles 

 to overcome in order to establish a permanent 

 peace and insure the welfare of the inhabitants. 



The republic, as has already been remarked, 

 was for more than thirty years controlled by 

 the Chnrch party. Large portions of the best 

 property in the country belonged to the 

 Church, the revenue of which had reached 

 fabulous proportions. Shortly after the estab- 

 lishment of the Liberal party, under the chief- 

 hip of Granados, all the Jesuits and such 

 of the priests as had made themselves promi- 

 nently obnoxious in politics, were expelled 

 from the country; but, as the church property 

 still remained under their control, they were 

 thus enabled to sustain their own party. In 

 view, then, of these evils, and of their final 

 suppression, a decree was issued, under date 

 27th of September, for the confiscation by the 

 Government of all church property. The pro- 

 ceeds of the sale of this last will be deposited 

 in a special treasury, destined to form an agri- 

 cultural bank, the want of which has long 

 boon felt in the country, and the object of 

 which is to increase and facilitate agricul- 

 ture, and for that purpose the Government 

 has limited the amount to be advanced on any 

 one estate to $3,000, at the low interest of six 

 per cent, per annum. 



The policy of the administration of General 

 Barrios, like that of his predecessor, General 

 Garc6a Granados, has been so far one of ex- 

 treme friendliness to foreigners, every question 

 that has arisen having been amicably and 

 justly arranged, and every favor asked by 



foreign representatives and consuls kindly and 

 promptly granted. This line of conduct on 

 the part of the liberal Government has gained 

 for it the sympathy of the foreign population 

 of Guatemala. 



GUTHRIE, THOMAS, D. D., an eloquent and 

 eminently useful Scottish clergyman of the 

 Free Church of Scotland ; author, editor, lect- 

 urer, and philanthropist; born in Brechin, For- 

 farshire, July 12, 1803; died at St. Leonard's- 

 on-Sea, Sussex, England, February 24, 1873. 

 His father was a banker, magistrate, and shop- 

 keeper of Brecbin, and of the Guthries of 

 Guthrie, in which family a large number of 

 the members had been clergymen, several had 

 distinguished themselves as writers, and one, 

 the stern old Covenanter, James Guthrie, had 

 suffered martyrdom for his faith. Thomas 

 Guthrie's early education was obtained in the 

 academy of his native town, but, at the age 

 of twelve, a stout, healthy lad, he was sent to 

 the University of Edinburgh, and there passed 

 through the under - graduate course of four 

 years, the theological course of four years 

 more, and a subsequent post-graduate course 

 of two years ; having entered college when 

 quite young, he could not obtain his license 

 to preach till he was twenty-two years of 

 age. After receiving his license, he was still 

 without a settlement, though there was a 

 prospect of one before long, through the in- 

 fluence of his friend Mr. Maule, afterward 

 Lord Panmnre. He therefore went to Paris 

 to study physical science, and, to some extent, 

 medicine. Returning home after a somewhat 

 extended tour on the Continent, ho was still 

 without a parish, and, for two years, devoted 

 himself assiduously to acquiring a knowledge 

 of banking in his father's banking-house. In 

 1830 he was presented to the parish of Arbir- 

 lot, in Forfarshire a small village with a 

 population of about 1,000 souls. Here he 

 preached, with constantly-growing reputation, 

 until 1837, when he was called to Old Grey- 

 friar's Church, near the Covvgate, in Edin- 

 burgh a field where, while his congregation 

 was largely composed of the educated and re- 

 fined, his parish included the poorest and most 

 wretched and degraded inhabitants of the 

 Scottish metropolis. With almost superhuman 

 energy he plunged into this mass of down-trod- 

 den, poverty-stricken, and vicious humanity, 

 and had succeeded in bringing some order out 

 of confusion, some gleams of comfort out of 

 the gloomy and filth - sodden wretchedness 

 there ; and, while preaching such sermons and 

 making such appeals as brought the learned, 

 the aristocratic, and the wealthy in crowds to 

 hear him, had built a new church in the Cow- 

 gate, especially for the poor and degraded, and 

 was establishing ragged schools for them, 

 when, in 1843, the struggle between the pa- 

 tronage and anti-patronage parties took place 

 in the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scot- 

 land a struggle in which he had engaged, 

 with his whole soul, in opposition to the pre- 



