THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 
283 
the entire country as well. Monopolies, corruption, op¬ 
pression grew like true tropical vegetation, until the air 
became too close for healthful life ; and then came the fer¬ 
mentation. Uprisings of the Indios had occurred before the 
death of Alvarado (1541), — for example, the brave attempt 
of the Cacique Lempira in Honduras ; but these rebellions 
were all crushed by the iron hand of the Adelantado and 
by his generals. Now came the low murmur of a rising 
tempest over the land, and the winds were blowing from 
a different quarter of the heavens. Now the ruling caste 
was uneasy, and it was about to reap the inevitable har¬ 
vest of the wind it had sowed. 
Not in the province of Guatemala, not at the seat of 
the Audiencia Real, but on that disturbed strip of land 
along the Pacific coast of Nicaragua and San Salvador, 
where earthquakes are on the most terrific scale, and 
volcanic vents bristle threateningly, appeared the first 
forcible remonstrances against this aged and encrusted 
tyranny. In 1811 there, were risings, little pronuncia- 
mentos; but there was no combination to insure success. 
The false system of government taught a distrust of 
others; selfishness permeated individual character as well 
as the nation at large ; and no man could put confidence 
in his neighbor. No leader appeared to unite the dis¬ 
cordant elements, the evolution of a free state was very 
slow, and at last was as much owing to the supine¬ 
ness of Spain as to any forceful act on the part of the 
provinces. We have here no war of freedom, no Wash¬ 
ington, no Bolivar. Sporadic murmurs were heard now 
and again; they came to the ears of the people and set a 
few men to thinking ; the number of these thinkers grew, 
until in 1821 the then representative of Spain, Gavino 
