398 



HONDURAS. 



more important charges against his predeces- 

 sor, and the principles by which he himself 

 promised to be guided in reforming the Gov- 

 ernment : 



PROCLAMATION. 



Ponciano Leiva, citizen of the republic of Hon- 

 duras, having been called to the presidency by pub- 

 lic opinion^ expressed in various ways : 



Considering the notorious unpopularity and dis- 

 credit into which the administration of Senor Arias 

 has fallen ; 



That during the eighteen months of his govern- 

 ment he has proved himself incapable of maintaining 

 order at home or repelling aggression from abroad", 

 as recent facts have shown, and as is well known to 

 all Central America ; 



That Senor Arias, turning his back upon the noble 

 and generous principles proclaimed by the past rev- 

 olution, has established a government which is pure- 

 ly personal and arbitrary ; 



That the government of Senor Arias has main- 

 tained the dictatorship longer than was necessary, 

 without any reason of public good, and only for the 

 purpose of securing his election by the people ; 



That he has suppressed all liberty, holding the 

 press under restraint, and restricting the right of 

 suffrage, which form the basis of all true republican 

 governments ; 



That the most sacred civil rights, which existed 

 prior to and are above all legislation, have been vio- 

 lated in all the departments of the republic by order 

 of the government of Senor Arias, or with his con- 

 sent ; 



That military executions, proscriptions, and arbi- 

 trary imprisonments, accompanied by the most in- 

 human acts, and confiscation in all its forms, have 

 been exercised on a large scale in the republic, in the 

 name of democracy and liberty ; 



That the anarchy into which Honduras is sunk is 

 the direct consequence of Senor Arias's errors and 

 arbitrary management ; 



That it is absolutely necessary to put a stop to so 

 abnormal and violent a state of things to enable the 

 people to enjoy peace, order, and true liberty; 



That public feeling and opinion in general point to 

 the necessity of a change of administration ; 



By the right of insurrection, proclaimed and sanc- 

 tioned by all the enlightened nations of Europe and 

 America, declares : 



1. That a new provisional government is inaugu- 

 rated in the republic of Honduras. 



2. In the mean time, until the cabinet is fully or- 

 ganized, I appoint temporarily to take charge of the 

 departments of Foreign Eelations, Government, Jus- 

 tice, Public Instruction, Public Works, and Public 

 Worship, the Licenciado Don Adolfo Ziiniga, and 

 for those of War and Finance, Lieutenant-General 

 Juan Lopez. 



3. The new government will proceed to the organ- 

 ization of all the branches of the public service im- 

 mediately. 



It may be here mentioned that freedom of 

 the press was not an empty promise in Sefior 

 Leiva's initiatory proclamation, but has now 

 become an accomplished -fact. This important 

 reform alone is sufficient to exalt him in public 

 favor far above the level of his contemporaries 

 guiding the destinies of the Central American 

 states. We should not omit to observe that, 

 after the capitulation of Arias in Oomayagua, 

 he was detained. a prisoner, and his prede- 

 cessor, Medina, was set at liberty. Arias was 

 afterward sent into exile. 



As a consequence of a long period of malad- 

 ministration, the political and social condition 



of the country on the accession of Leiva 

 to power was exceedingly unpromising, and 

 of a nature to demand the most strenuous 

 efforts on the part of the new President. He 

 found society divided into numberless factions, 

 all alike regardless of law and moral order ; 

 the army almost completely broken up, the 

 Treasury depleted, and unsatisfactory relations 

 with foreign countries. 



New elections were to take place, near the 

 end of the year, for President and for repre- 

 sentatives of the various departments, the can- 

 didates for the executive power being Leiva 

 (hitherto only provisional President), Manuel 

 Colindre, and Eamon Midence, the last a land- 

 owner near Tegucigalpa, and considered by the 

 Guatemala press to be the real representative 

 of the Liberal Party. A movement, set on foot 

 by Sefior Zufiiga, to form a party, which should 

 be neither Conservative nor Liberal, gave rise 

 to no small degree of mistrust. Such was the 

 state of the republic at the middle of Decem- 

 ber. In the mean time, the work of reform 

 had begun, and was carried on with unremit- 

 ting zeal; the public-school system had re- 

 ceived some substantial marks of attention and 

 encouragement ; proposals were made (and 

 are likely to be accepted) for the introduction 

 of suitable school-books from the United States ; 

 a university was to be established, and the Gov- 

 ernment manifested a desire to pay a sum of 

 $24,000 due to the Pacific Mail Company. 



A law was promulgated defining the privi- 

 leges to be enjoyed by foreigners settling in the 

 republic ; for Honduras, in common with the 

 other Spanish-American states, is desirous of 

 seeing immigrants flock to its shores. They 

 will be subject to the same laws as the na- 

 tives of the country ; lands assigned to them 

 on their arrival will, after five years of unin- 

 terrupted cultivation, become their property ; 

 they will be exempt from military duty for 

 ten years, save in the case of a foreign in- 

 vasion, and likewise from all taxes, and will 

 receive patents for any mechanical invention 

 or improvements they may introduce. Lastly, 

 they will enjoy perfect liberty to exercise their 

 religion, though in private, if that be not the 

 Roman Catholic, and will have their own 

 cemeteries ; and there will be nothing to pre- 

 vent them from selling their property when- 

 ever they desire to do so, and leave the re- 

 public. 



There is, nevertheless, room to doubt wheth- 

 er all these advantages will determine an im- 

 portant tide of immigration to Honduras, so 

 long as such superior inducements, climatic, 

 social, moral, and material, are offered -by the 

 United States, Brazil, the Plate Republics, and 

 Australia. 



It was reported in November that a con- 

 vention had been agreed on between the Gov- 

 ernments of Honduras and San Salvador for 

 the purpose of settling the internal affairs of 

 the former country and uniting to combat any 

 further uprising of the reactionary party. 



