198 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



religious fanaticism swept the state, and the Liberal 

 party was crushed in Guatimala. 



But the state of San Salvador, from the beginning 

 the leader in Liberal principles, was prompt in its ef- 

 forts of vengeance, and on the sixteenth of March, 1827, 

 its army appeared within the outer gates of Guatima* 

 la, threatening the destruction of the capital ; but reli- 

 gious fanaticism was too strong ; the priests ran through 

 the streets exhorting the people to take up arms, the 

 friars headed mobs of women, who, with drawn knives, 

 swore destruction to all who attempted to overturn 

 their religion, and the San Salvadoreans were defeat- 

 ed and driven back. For two years the parties were 

 at open war. In 1829 the troops of San Salvador, un- 

 der General Morazan, who had now become the head 

 of the Liberal party, again marched upon Guatimala, 

 and, after three days' fighting, entered it in triumph. 

 All the leaders of the Central party, the Aycinenas, 

 the Pavons, and Penoles, were banished or fled, the 

 convents were broken up, the institution of friars abol- 

 ished, the friars themselves put on board vessels and 

 shipped out of the country, and the archbishop, antici- 

 pating banishment, or perhaps fearing a worse fate, 

 sought safety in flight. 



In 1831 General Morazan was elected president of 

 the republic ; at the expiration of the term he was re- 

 elected ; and for eight years the Liberal party had the 

 complete ascendancy. During the latter part of his 

 term, however, there was great discontent, particularly 

 on account of forced loans and exactions for the sup- 

 port of government, or, as the Centralists said, to grat- 

 ify the rapacity of unscrupulous and profligate office- 

 holders. The Church party was always on the alert. 

 The exiles in the United States and Mexico, and on the 



