GUATEMALA. 



347 



the United States and Guatemala having been 

 ratified by the Senate at Washington, a later 

 convention, styled " an additional article," was 

 the subject of a message of President Cleve- 

 land to the latter, accompanied by his recom- 

 mendation that it be ratified. The additional 

 article reads : " Neither Government shall be 

 required to deliver up its own citizens under 

 the stipulations of this convention." 



Mexico and Guatemala. The substance of a 

 protocol arranged between Mexico and Guate- 

 mala in October is that the Government of 

 Guatemala will appoint a minister plenipoten- 

 tiary to go to the city of Mexico, there to ne- 

 gotiate with the plenipotentiary appointed by 

 the Mexican Government a treaty providing 

 for a mixed commission to decide the claims of 

 citizens of one country against those of the 

 other; also to negotiate a treaty of commerce 

 providing for an absolutely free exchange of 

 the natural products of the two countries. 



Events of 188T. The President of Guatemala 

 on June 29 established a temporary dictator- 

 ship by issuing the following decree : 



ARTICLE I. The Executive assumes control of the 

 country and suspends the action of the Constitution. 



ART. II. The tribunals of the republic will continue 

 to sit under the laws in force on March 1 of the pres- 

 ent year. 



ART. III. A constituent assembly is hereby con- 

 voked to reconsider the reforms in the Constitution 

 decreed on Dec. 11, 1879, and those issued on Oct. 

 20, 1885, which assembly shall meet on October 1 

 next. 



ART. IV. This decree shall come into force from 

 the moment it is issued. 



The decree was signed by President Barillas 

 and all his ministers, and it became the pre- 

 text for a rising against the constituted au- 

 thorities. A revolutionary band formed in 

 Valencia and traversed the departments of 

 Santa Rosa, Jalapa, and Guatemala, but met 

 no sympathizers. Finally, they dispersed and 

 made toward Alzatate for the purpose of 

 thence passing to the Soledad forests. Some, 

 however, came in and surrendered to the Gov- 

 ernment forces. Of the others, several were 

 captured by the residents, while the remainder 

 made toward Salvador, but were captured be- 

 fore they crossed the frontier. While this 

 news was being received, a telegram arrived 

 saying that Don Vicente Castaneda with a 

 force from Chiantla had attacked Huchuete- 

 nango, but was driven off, leaving a lieutenant 

 and three soldiers dead, and carrying away 

 some wounded. Little attention was paid to 

 the affair at the time, but under date of Oc- 

 tober 30 Gen. Barillas issued a long proclama- 

 tion. He said he had summoned the Constitu- 

 ent Assembly and reported to it at length all 

 matters of public importance that had oc- 

 curred, trusting that very shortly the regime 

 of the Constitution would again be inaugu- 

 rated. " But," he added, " on the 28th of Sep- 

 tember the Government received information 

 that a revolution was being plotted on the 

 frontier of Salvador against the peace of Gua- 



temala, and that the leaders were Messrs. Sal- 

 vador Sandoval, Jos6 Aguilar, and Gen. Tino- 

 co, a Nicaragua^ officer. The Government 

 was at the same time aware that the movement 

 was backed by many who are averse to the 

 actual political situation. The Government 

 refrained from making investigations, and con- 

 tented itself by sending a force against those 

 who had appeared with arms in their hands, 

 and who were promptly overthrown by the 

 military commanders at Chiquimula, Jalapa, 

 Zacapa, and Santa Rosa. The Governments 

 of Honduras and Salvador also acted loyally 

 and thus assisted the overthrow of the revolu- 

 tion. The chiefs Pineda, Arzu, Zepeda, and 

 Juarez, were captured, and after trial were 

 condemned and shot. During those same days 

 an attempt was made to capture the barracks 

 at Huchuetenango, and a two hours' fight re- 

 sulted in the defeat of the rebels after a num- 

 ber had been killed and wounded on both 

 sides. After their defeat a number of the 

 rebels were captured and tried by court-mar- 

 tial, and Col. Vicente Castaneda and Lieuts. 

 Ismail Diaz, Jos6 Munoz, Malias Cifuentes, 

 and Francisco Alonzo, have been shot." 



While this attempt at revolution had been 

 preparing, the Government on September 3 

 felt induced to expel from the territory of the 

 republic the Archbishop Don Ricardo Casano- 

 va. In 1873 the latter was a lawyer, but de- 

 cided to become a minister of the Catholic 

 Church. He succeeded at last in securing the 

 archiepiscopal chair, and from that exalted 

 position opened a serious campaign against 

 liberal reforms, pretending that the laws grant- 

 ing liberty of worship, laic and non-sectarian 

 instruction, secular cemeteries, and, in fact, all 

 such legislation that directly or indirectly sup- 

 pressed the abuses of the Catholic Church 

 against liberty, should be stricken from the 

 Guatemala Constitution. Ignoring the fact 

 that the public schools were established and 

 are controlled and paid for by the Government, 

 the archbishop sought to interfere in their 

 management, by issuing a decree forbidding the 

 perusal of a book entitled " Cartas d Eugenia." 

 Archbishop Casanova even went a step further 

 and declared that he would not obey any au- 

 thority whatever except God Almighty and 

 the Pope. 



Prosperous Condition of the Country. During 

 1887 a very healthy tone was observable in 

 business matters in the republic. Agricult- 

 urists were jubilant at the abundance of the 

 coffee-crop, which yielded about 600,000 quin- 

 tals. Money was comparatively cheap, being 

 easily procurable at from 8 to 9 per cent, per 

 annum on good security. The coffee-crops were 

 the main cause of this flourishing condition, 

 and generally a happy state of affairs prevailed. 



Privileges of Steamer-Lines. In August the Gov- 

 ernment published the following decree, de- 

 claring that all foreign merchandise, imported 

 by vessels belonging to companies whose ves- 

 sels made direct voyages, calling at the Pacific 



