In the third and concluding volume of the History of Central America will be more fully presented the social, industrial, and political condition of the country in the nineteenth century, particularly at the transitional epoch following the achieving of independence from Spain, and immediately afterward. Twice during the sixteenth century did Spain narrowly escape the loss of her richest territories by rebellion. Twice during the eighteenth did British armaments threaten to overthrow her dominion in the New World. And now, at the close of the latter century, the Spaniards of Central America, goaded by heavy and unjust taxation, and by the vexatious restrictions imposed on the trade of the colonies, stimulated, moreover, by the success with which the republic of the west had thrown off the yoke of England, and by the brilliant career which the great republic of Europe had achieved under the dazzling leadership of the first Napoleon, were already ripe for revolution. Spain meanwhile is about to reap the reward of nearly three centuries of misrule. Through her indifference the commerce of the western hemisphere had long since fallen into the hands of foreigners; and her colonies no longer desired to maintain their connection with the mother country, from which they had nothing to gain, and with whose interests they had little in common.
For the history of the colonial period of the Central American provinces, especially that portion immediately following the conquest, when, a secure foothold having been gained by the Spaniards, gradual exploration and settlement completed their subjugation, the data supplied by the earlier Spanish chroniclers and official reports are abundant; but the evidence from these sources is, in some respects, so incomplete and contradictory, that it is only after an examination of the numerous valuable collections of original documents brought to light in modern times, that the student is able to fix with precision the true character and sequence of events. The standard general historians of the sixteenth century, such as Bernal Diaz, Gomara, Oviedo, and Las Casas, give us but little information concerning Central America after 1530; and in consequence the special accounts of individuals like Gage, Benzoni, and Andagoya, not to mention the writings of the buccaneers, with occasional special efforts of a time or place like those of Reynolds, and of Fuentes y Guzman, followed by Juarros, and all supplemented by documents, assume paramount importance, and become the chief sources of historic material for this epoch.
The founding and subsequent progress of the church in this territory are traced in a general way by its representative chroniclers, Motolinia, Mendieta, Torquemada, and Fernandez, until Remesal and Vazquez, chroniclers respectively of the Dominican and Franciscan orders in Central America, profiting by the labors of the former, and adding some original research, bring the history of the church down to the end of the seventeenth century. Some attempt is also made by the last two writers to follow the political history, but only in a desultory way.
The first special history to be written was that of Fuentes y Guzman, containing much original matter, but not generally reliable. The manuscript was never published, but was used by Juarros. Later appeared the pamphlet of Cadena, devoted entirely to a description of the destruction of Guatemala City, and about the same time Escamilla compiled from official sources a list of governors and bishops and of the more important historical events, and gave a special account of the destruction of Guatemala City.
Without the valuable collections of Squier, Pacheco and Cárdenas, Cartas de Indias, Ternaux-Compans, Arévalo, Icazbalceta, and Coleccion de Documentos Inéditos, the result of modern research, the history of this territory from 1531 to 1800 would be meagre indeed. These collections, special notices of nearly all of which I have already given, contain almost numberless official letters and reports, which were either unknown or inaccessible to early writers. Prominent among them all is what has been called the Squier collection, consisting mostly of manuscripts, and which fell to my collection by purchase after the death of Mr Squier. It consists of extracts and copies of letters and reports of audiencias, governors, bishops, and various government officials, taken from the Spanish archives at Madrid and from the library of the Spanish Royal Academy of History, mostly under the direction of the indefatigable collector Mr Buckingham Smith. Many rare and valuable documents relating to Central America, including numerous letters and reports of Las Casas, are also to be found in the voluminous collection of Pacheco and Cárdenas, and, though fewer in number, in that of Ternaux-Compans.
In the absence of any early local chronicler, and by reason of the neglect of those who came later, many of the records have been lost. The only portions of those published are to be found in the collections of Arévalo, which are indispensable to the local history of Guatemala, though evidently not complete, and containing some omissions owing to the apparent illegibility of the originals. The second of these collections, Coleccion de Documentos Antiguos de Guatemala, published in Guatemala in 1857, contains, besides the grants of the coat of arms and privileges to the city of Guatemala, and memorials and reports of the city council from 1537 to 1782, a few letters of Alvarado and Bishop Marroquin, some without date, not found elsewhere.
REMESAL, VAZQUEZ, JUARROS.
The work of Remesal, though published in Madrid, was the first one written in Guatemala. In connection with the special history of the Dominican order and a general account of the church, considerable political history is given, though in a desultory manner. This author was the first to make use of the archives of Guatemala, but in the presentation of this original matter much carelessness is shown. Las Casas, the Dominican order, and the natives are his favorite topics, and events are colored accordingly. A century later, deeming his order neglected by Remesal, the Franciscan chronicler Vazquez issued his work. Borrowing much from Remesal and other writers for the earlier epoch, he continued the history of the church down to the end of the seventeenth century, giving also, as that author had done, the political history in a disconnected form. With the same facilities as regards original sources Vazquez makes better use of them than Remesal, but while exposing the errors of his rival he falls into others equally great, displaying a narrow-minded prejudice against the natives, while fanatically defending their oppressors. Remesal and Vazquez are at variance on many points of church history, but on none more than the missionary labors of their respective orders. Each claims for his order the honor of first entering the missionary field in this quarter, but neither makes good his pretensions.
The next work to appear was that of Juarros, which, having absorbed that of Fuentes y Guzman, was the first published of what might be called a history of Guatemala. Notwithstanding his access to original documents, Fuentes y Guzman committed many errors which were unwittingly copied by Juarros. With the aid of subsequent research, however, these errors are readily detected, Juarros still remaining the leading historian of Central America, though owing to the greater importance of Guatemala as the seat of government, the greater portion of the work is taken up with the history of this province. In fact this is the only comprehensive history extant of Guatemala and its adjoining provinces, while the other portions of Central America make scarcely any pretext to the possession of a history. From no other source can the writer obtain connected accounts of their conquest and settlement, description of towns, early resources, and lists of officials and biographies of prominent men. Of the Spanish writers he is also one of the most impartial, even in matters pertaining to the church, though he was one of its ministers. Nevertheless, Juarros is in many respects incomplete. He has failed in a lamentable degree to present anything like the true political, social, and moral condition of the people, or the development of the country during this period; and for the conquest and early colonial epochs there is a manifest lack of study and research. Noting these defects, Pelaez in his Memorias attempted to supply them, and has succeeded in a measure. Arranged in a clear concise form, under their appropriate headings, and with corresponding references, the student will find collected all the evidence presented on the different subjects by nearly all of the earlier and modern authors of note; to which is added the testimony from a large number of original documents overlooked or neglected by his predecessors. But while the history of Guatemala for the latter colonial period is comparatively complete, that of the remaining provinces of Central America, as I have intimated, is but a meagre outline, dependent for the most part on occasional documents. Among the modern authorities composed chiefly of English, French, and German, but a brief historical review is given of this period, a mere compilation from well known works, which serve as an introduction to narratives of travel, or books describing the different provinces and their resources.
A peculiar feature of Central American bibliography is the buccaneer literature, here being the principal scene of the piratical operations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The total absence of any Spanish work on this subject has left the field open to the English, French, and Dutch, whose accounts of the exploits of their countrymen on the Spanish main are not always impartial.