CHAPTER X. 
THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 
F OR almost three centuries Spain governed Central 
America (1524-1821) by the Audiencia Real. Every 
act of oppression that could be exercised upon the Indios 
was invented by the foreign rulers, and the native popu¬ 
lation was greatly reduced by this mismanagement; but 
such a course always re¬ 
acts most terribly upon 
the perpetrators. The 
thirst for wealth that 
brought the foreigners 
to these shores pursued 
them still, and the brave 
resistance to wrongs un¬ 
limited, that the Span¬ 
iards themselves chron¬ 
icle, does not seem to 
have awakened that re¬ 
spect in the bosoms of the Conquistadores that it now 
rouses in the heart of every generous student of the past. 
The Indios were lawful prey, it was u spoiling the Egyp¬ 
tians;” and although Las Casas and some of the mission¬ 
aries tried faithfully to protect their flock, and although 
the King of Spain made decrees, the powers of evil 
seemed to have their own way in this distant colony. 
