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'th^ 'federal Congress on the 9th of December, 1825, which says, in 

 the article 1st: For the present^, and until the Umits of each State shall 

 have been fixed, ordered by the article 7th of the constitution, the dis- 

 trict of Nicoya shall continue separated from the State of Nicaragua, and 

 ^nnes:ed to that of Costa Rica.'''' As regards this decree there are four 

 observations to make: The first is, that the State of Nicaragua addressed 

 to the Congress a very -energetic protest, demanding the revocation of the 

 decree and showing the title she had to keep the possession of Nicoya, 

 and the injustice of depriving it of one of its districts. Secondly, that 

 the people of Nicoya also petitioned against its annexation to Costa Rica,^ 

 demanding to be reincorporated to Nicaragua, as it is to be seen in the 

 municipal archives of that epoch; and especially an act passed on the I5th 

 of August, 1826, in which they refused to utter the oath of obedience to 

 the constitution of Costa Rica, because its annexation was provisional, 

 and was at the time the object of the high deliberations of the Congress. 

 Thirdly, that the government of Costa Kica, itself convinced that the an- 

 nexation was only provisional, ordered, by a decree of the 29.th of July, 



1825, the suspension of the sale of vacant lands in that territory, con- 

 sidering the prejudices that might be caused to the buyer in case it was 

 returned to Nicaragua. Fourthly, that the Congress having not fixed 

 the limits by a law, before the dissolution of the Union, the annexation of 

 the said district of Nicaragua was considered in the estimation of all the 

 other States as provisional; and therefore Costa Rica cannot claim any 

 right to the said district. 



These incidents did not, however, alter the friendly relations between 

 the two States during the federal Union; the question depended on the 

 national Congress, and both waited in calm the solution that was to in- 

 sure forever the peace and repose of these two important sections of- 

 the confederation. But it was not till 1838, a year fatal for Central 

 America for more than one cause, that the pretensions began to be shown 

 which;, developed to an inconceivable degree of exaggeration, have been, 

 and will be, the cause of our misfortunes, and have exposed us to the 

 fatal influence of the stranger which threatens what is most dear to the 

 Spanish American States, iheir liberty and independence. In 1838 all 

 the States, except San Salvador, that did it out of necessity, disowned 

 the national powers that existed in virtue of the celebrated constitution 

 of 1824, with the object of proceeding to make the reforms that experi- 

 ence proved necessary, and which could not have been made for the in- 

 trigues of the party called federal." This is the only motive that justi- 

 fies that ill-fated revolution. Since then every State has begun to reform its 

 own particular constitution, thinking to be working for the general, 

 which was to decide the form of government that was to be adopted. 

 Nicaragua, the first to promote the reforms, was also the first to convoke 

 a constitutional assembly, with the object of reviewing the constitution of 



1826. Costa Rica followed the example, though in a different way, and 

 with another object, as it will be seen. The constitution of Nicaragua, 

 whose project had been made public, designing, in the article second, the 

 limits of the State, marked, on the southeast, the river Sal to for the 

 boundary; and did so in consideration to the petitions made by the mu- 

 nicipalities of the city of Rivas (chief town of the department of Nicaragua) 

 and of the district of Nicoya, who demanded to be reincorporated into the 

 State of Nicaragua. The Costa Rica government foresaw the transcend- 



