EXCITEMENT AGAINST FOREIGNERS.

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tiation proposed; and on the publication of this treaty, which Mr. Chatfield, the British consul general, considered disrespectful and injurious to his government, he addressed a note to the vice-president, requesting a categorical answer to the question "if the Federal Government did exist or not" (precisely what I was anxious to know); to which he received no answer. Afterward Mr. Chatfield visited Nicaragua, and the government of that state sent him a communication, requesting his mediation in settling the difficulties between the states of San Salvador and Honduras, then at war, and through him the guarantee of the Queen of England to compel the fulfilment of any treaty made between them. Mr. Chatfield, in his answer, referred to his letter to the vice-president, and spoke of the gov ernment as the as the "so-called Federal Government." The correspondence was published, and increased the exasperation against Mr. Chatfield and foreigners generally; they were denounced as instigators and supporters of the revolution; their rights and privileges as residents discussed, and finally the injustice of their enjoying the protection of the government! without contributing to the expenses of supporting it. The result was, that on the levying of a new forced loan, foreigners were included in the liability, and a peremptory order was issued, requiring them, in case of refusal to pay, to leave the country in eight days. The foreigners were violently exasperated. There were not more than a dozen in the state, and most of them being engaged in business which it would be ruinous to leave, were compelled to pay. Two or three who wanted to leave before walked off, and called themselves martyrs, threatened the vengeance of their government, and talked of the arrival of a British ship-of-war. Mr. VOL. II.-G

5

Kilgour, a British subject, refused to pay. The authorities had orders to give him his passport to leave the state. Don Pedro Negrete, as vice-consul of France, Encargado de la Ingelterra, presented a remonstrance. The vice-president's answer (in part but too true), as it contains the grounds of the law, and shows the state of feeling existing at the time, I give in his own words:

"Strangers in these barbarous countries, as they call them, ought not to expect to have the advantage of being protected in their property without aiding the government in it. We are poor, and if, in any of the convulsions which are so frequent in new countries that have hardly begun their political career, strangers sufer losses, they at once have recourse to their governments, that the nations in which they come to speculate, not without knowledge of the risks, pay them double or treble of what they have lost. This is unjust in every point of view, when they do not care with a slight loan to aid the government in its most urgent necessities. What ought the government to do? to tell them,' Away with you, I cannot secure your property; or, lend me a certain sum in order to enable me to secure it.' On the other hand, if it happens that a strong party or faction, as it is called, prevails, and falls upon your property the same as upon the property of the sons of the country and the public rents, and you complain to your nation, she comes and blockades our ports, and makes the poor nation pay a thousand per cent."

Mr. Mercer, a French merchant, was absent at the time of enforcing the contributions. Don Pedro was his agent under a power of attorney, and had charge of his goods, and refused to pay. The government insisted; Don Pedro was determined. The government sent soldiers to his house. Don Pedro said he would

VICE-PRESIDENT VIGIL.

51

hoist the French flag; the chief of the state said he would tear it down. Don Pedro was imprisoned in his own house, his family excluded from him, and his food handed in by a soldier, until a friend paid the money. Don Pedro contended that the majesty of France was violated in his person; the government said that the proceedings were against him as the agent of Mercer, and not as French consul; but any way, consul or agent, Don Pedro's body bore the brunt, and as this took place but two days before our arrival, Don Pedro was still in bed from the indisposition brought upon him by vexation and anxiety. We received the above, with many details, from Don Pedro's son, as an apology for his father's absence, and an explanation of the ravings we heard in the adjoining room.

In the evening I called upon the vice-president. Great changes had taken place since I saw him at Zonzonate. The troops of the Federal Government had been routed in Honduras; Carrera had conquered Quezaltenango, garrisoned it with his own soldiers, destroyed its existence as a separate state, and annexed it to Guatimala. San Salvador stood alone in support of the Federal Government. But Señor Vigil had risen with the emergency. The chief of the state, a bold-looking mulatto, and other officers of the government, were with him. They knew that the Honduras troops were marching upon the city, had reason to fear they would be joined by those of Nicaragua, but they were not dismayed; on the contrary, all showed a resolution and energy I had not seen before. General Morazan, they said, was on his march against Guatimala. Tired as they were of war, the people of San Salvador, Señor Vigil said, had risen with new enthusiasm. Volunteers were flocking in from all quarters; and with a de

termination that was imposing, though called out by civil war, he added that they were resolved to sustain the Federation, or die under the ruins of San Salvador. It was the first time my feelings had been at all roused. In all the convulsions of the time I had seen no flash of heroism, no high love of country. Selfpreservation and self-aggrandizement were the ruling passions. It was a bloody scramble for power and place; and sometimes, as I rode through the beautiful country, and saw what Providence had done for them, and how unthankful they were, I thought it would be a good riddance if they would play out the game of the Kilkenny cats. It was a higher tone than I was accustomed to, when the chief men of a single state, with an invading army at their door, and their own soldiers away, expressed the stern resolution to sustain the Federation, or die under the ruins of the capital. But they did not despair of the Republic; the Honduras troops would be repulsed at San Vicente, and General Morazan would take Guatimala. The whole subject of the revolution was discussed, and the conversation was deeply interesting to me, for I regarded it as touching matters of life and death. I could not compromise them by anything I might say, for they are all in exile, under sentence of death if they return. They did not speak in the ferocious and sanguinary spirit I afterward heard imputed to them at Guatimala, but they spoke with great bitterness of gentlemen whom I considered personal friends, who, they said, had been before spared by their lenity; and they added, in tones that could not be misunderstood, that they would not make such a mistake again.

In the midst of this confusion, where was my government? I had travelled all over the country, led on

by a glimmering light shining and disappearing, and I could not conceal from myself that the crisis of my fortune was at hand. All depended upon the success of Morazan's expedition. If he failed, my occupation was gone; but in this darkest hour of the Republic I did not despair. In ten years of war. Morazan had never been beaten; Carrera would not dare fight him; Guatimala would fall; the moral effect would be felt all over the country; Quezaltenango would shake off its chains; the strong minority in the other states would rise; the flag of the Republic would once more wave triumphantly, and out of chaos the government I was in search of would appear.

Nevertheless, I was not so sure of it as to wait quietly till it came to me at San Salvador. The result was very uncertain, and if it should be a protracted war, I might be cut off from Guatimala, without any opportunity of serving my country by diplomatic arts, and prevented from prosecuting other objects more interesting than the uncertain pursuit in which I was then engaged. The design which the captain had in coming up to San Salvador had failed; he could not join Morazan's expedition; but he had nothing to do at the port, was anxious to see Guatimala, had a stock of jewelry and other things which he might dispose of there, and was so sure of Morazan's success that he determined to go on and pay him a visit, and have the benefits of balls and other rejoicings attendant upon his triumph.

In the excitement and alarm of the place, it was very difficult to procure mules. As to procuring them direct for Guatimala, it was impossible. No one would move on that road until the result of Morazan's expedition was known; and even to get them for Zonzonate it was necessary to wait a day. That day I intended to ab