62 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



Lucia. Early in the morning, the firing of muskets, 

 petards, and rockets had announced the arrival of this 

 unexpected but welcome visiter, one of the holiest saints 

 of the calendar, and, next to San Antonio, the most 

 celebrated for the povrer of w^orking miracles. Mora- 

 zan's rise into pov^er was signalized by a persecution of 

 the clergy : his friends say that it was the purification 

 of a corrupt body ; his enemies, that it v^^as a vrar against 

 morality and religion. The country v^^as at that time 

 overrun with priests, friars, and monks of different or- 

 ders. Everywhere the largest buildings, the best culti- 

 vated lands, and a great portion of the wealth of the 

 country were in their hands. Many, no doubt, were 

 good men ; but some used their sacred robes as a cloak 

 for rascality and vice, and most were drones, reaping 

 where they did not sow, and living luxuriously by the 

 sweat of other men's brows. At all events, and what- 

 ever was the cause, the early part of Morazan's admin- 

 istration was signalized by hostility to them as a class ; 

 and, from the Archbishop of Guatimala down to the 

 poorest friar, they were in danger ; some fled, others 

 were banished, and many were torn by rude soldiers 

 from their convents and churches, hurried to the sea- 

 ports, and shipped for Cuba and old Spain, under sen- 

 tence of death if they returned. The country was left 

 comparatively destitute ; many of the churches fell to 

 ruins ; others stood, but their doors were seldom open- 

 ed ; and the practice and memory of their religious rites 

 were fading away. Carrera and his Indians, with the 

 mystic rites of Catholicism ingrafted upon the supersti- 

 tions of their fathers, had acquired a strong hold upon 

 the feelings of the people by endeavouring to bring back 

 the exiled clergy and to restore the influence of the 

 church. The tour of the Santa Lucia was regarded as 



