360 



INCIDENTS OP TRAVEL. 



He was about fifty, short and stout, plain, but careful 

 in his dress, and with an appearance of dogged resolu- 

 tion in his face. His house was republican enough, 

 and had nothing to distinguish it from that of any other 

 citizen ; in one part his wife had a little store, and 

 in the other was his office for government business. 

 It was not larger than the counting-room of a third-rate 

 merchant, and he had three clerks, who at the mo- 

 ment of my entering were engaged writing, while he, 

 with his coat off, was looking over papers. He had 

 heard of my coming, and welcomed me to Costa Rica. 

 Though the law under which I came near being detain- 

 ed at the port was uppermost in my mind, and I am 

 sure was not forgotten by him, neither of us referred to 

 it. He inquired particularly about Guatimala; and, 

 though sympathizing in the policy of that state, had no 

 good opinion of Carrera. He was uncompromising in 

 his hostility to General Morazan and the Federal Gov- 

 ernment, and, in fact, it seemed to me that he was 

 against any general government, and strongly impressed 

 with the idea that Costa Rica could stand alone ; 

 doubtless believing that the state, or, which is the same 

 thing, he himself, could disburse the revenues better 

 than any other authority. Indeed, this is the rock on 

 which all the politicians of Central America split : there 

 is no such thing as national feeling. Every state would 

 be an empire ; the officers of state cannot brook supe- 

 riors ; a chief of the state cannot brook a president. 

 He had not sent deputies to the Convention, and did 

 not intend to do so ; but said that Costa Rica would 

 remain neutral until the other states had settled their 

 difficulties. He spoke with much interest of the im- 

 provement of the roads, particularly to the ports on the 

 Atlantic and Pacific, and expressed great satisfaction at 



