200 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



Ours was the only government that had any treaty w^ith 

 Central America, and, up to the time of Mr. De Witt's 

 departure from the country, we were represented by a 

 charge d'affaires. The British consul-general had pub- 

 lished a circular denying the existence of the general 

 government ; the French consul w^as not on good 

 terms v^ith either party ; and my arrival, and the course 

 I might take, were a subject of some interest to poli- 

 ticians. 



There was but one side to politics in Guatimala. 

 Both parties have a beautiful way of producing unanim- 

 ity of opinion, by driving out of the country all who do 

 not agree with them. If there were any Liberals, I did 

 not meet them, or they did not dare to open their lips. 

 The Central party, only six months in power, and still 

 surprised at being there, was fluttering between arro- 

 gance and fear. The old families, whose principal 

 members had been banished or politically ostracized, 

 and the clergy, were elated at the expulsion of the 

 Liberal party, and their return to what they considered 

 their natural right to rule the state ; they talked of re- 

 calling the banished archbishop and friars, restoring the 

 privileges of the Church, repairing the convents, revi- 

 ving monastic institutions, and making Guatimala what 

 it had once been, the jewel of Spanish America. 



One of my first visits of ceremony was to Seiior Ri- 

 vera Paz, the chief of the state. I was presented by 

 Mr. Henry Savage, who had formerly acted as United 

 States consul at Guatimala, and was the only Ameri- 

 can resident, to whom I am under many obligations for 

 his constant attentions. The State of Guatimala, hav- 

 ing declared its independence of the Federal govern- 

 ment, was at that time governed by a temporary body 

 called a Constituent Assembly. On the last entry of 



