On the 3d of October Colonel Crisanto Sacasa, commandant at Granada, issued a general order to the officers to report with their troops next morning, and take the oath to support national independence, pursuant to the instructions he had received from Captain-general Gainza. Intendente Saravia had been at enmity with Gainza, and when the first steps were taken in Guatemala for independence, he threw off his authority. In this he had the aid of Bishop Jerez and Colonel Joaquin Arechavala, commander of the militia, all three being natives of old Spain. They induced the diputacion and the ayuntamiento, by an act of the 11th of October, to declare Nicaragua seceded from Guatemala.[III-15] This action occurred in Leon. But Granada refused to concur, and sent its representatives to the congress called to meet in Guatemala. Later, October 21st, the authorities in Leon formally accepted the Iguala plan, thereby annexing the whole province to the Mexican empire. The country was accordingly divided into two antagonistic parties, the imperialist and the republican.[III-16]
Gainza said to the diputacion at Leon, on the 22d of October, that neither they nor the junta consultiva, nor any other body of men then existing, could decide upon the future of the country; none had a legal right to declare for or against annexation to Mexico. This could be arrived at only by the representatives of the people in the general congress.[III-17] He appointed Colonel Sacasa comandante general of the forces in Nicaragua, and directed him to install in Granada a subordinate junta gubernativa of five members, clothed with the functions of a jefe político, and which was to continue in power till the status of the country should be fixed.[III-18] Sacasa frankly notified the rulers in Leon of what he was to do, and took steps to carry his orders into execution. But Saravia, with the bishop and the diputacion, determined that no such junta should be installed. The diputacion, on the 1st of December, by a special act, forbade its organization, declaring all attempts toward it subversive of good order and hostile to the Mexican empire, to which they owed allegiance; and warning all citizens to abstain from such efforts.
COSTA RICA NEUTRAL.
Sacasa had every right to expect that Gainza would support him against attacks from Leon, but he was disappointed. The captain-general wrote him, on the 22d of December, that it was doubtful if Central America could maintain a government separate from Mexico, many towns having already attached themselves to the empire; and that he had expressed the same opinion to Saravia. Whereupon Sacasa, though a republican, made no further opposition to the powers at Leon.
Costa Rica was privileged by distance to keep aloof from political troubles threatening the other provinces. She had seceded from Spain on the 27th of October, and set aside the governor, Juan Cañas; but when called upon to adopt the plan of the capital or that of Leon, she declined both, preferring a neutral attitude.[III-19] A meeting of notables confirmed the act of secession, and set up a provisional government entirely detached from that at Leon, which was to reside alternately in Cartago, San José, Heredia, and Alajuela. But this was found inconvenient, owing to rivalries between the two first-named towns; and finally it was decided, on the 27th of November, to place public affairs in the hands of Manuel Peralta, Rafael Osejo, and Hermenegildo Bonilla, who were to reside at the provincial capital, Cartago. Under this arrangement peace was preserved, and the province never was really under the imperial rule.[III-20]
Dissensions had now brought the country to the brink of civil war, and no time was to be lost in averting it. Measures were adopted to hasten the meeting of congress. With the view of restoring peace between the sections, and of rendering harmless disturbing elements without resort to arms, the junta at Guatemala concluded to despatch trusty commissioners to the provinces where secession was rife, who were to prevail on them to send deputies to the general congress. Other agents were to be despatched to Mexico to watch the turn of events at the capital.[III-21] What good results those agents might have accomplished, it is impossible now to say. They had no occasion to try their efforts. Events in Mexico succeeded one another with such rapidity, and their influence on Central America was so powerful, that, even among the best patriots, many made up their minds to coöperate toward the union, carried away by the idea that only under the ægis of the northern empire could peace, safety, and stability be secured.
Costa Rica, we have seen, was in fact out of the field; at any rate, it had no share in the political strife. The provinces of Guatemala proper and Salvador were the only ones, at present, which together with Granada, in Nicaragua, and some portions of Honduras, attempted to preserve an independence from Mexico under whatever form of government might be adopted in that country. The idea of annexation to Mexico had been, however, growing popular from day to day in Guatemala. The important section of Quezaltenango adhered to the scheme, on the 13th of November, inviting Suchitepequez, Sololá, and Antigua Guatemala to follow the example, which they did soon after. And Cirilo Flores and Antonio Corzo, who in later years figured as most prominent champions of democracy and suffered martyrdom for their cause, then supported the action of Quezaltenango.
It was contended that Central America, after throwing off the Spanish yoke, acquired, with independence, the right of forming such associations as might be mutually beneficial. This doctrine was warmly advocated by a large portion of the reflecting class. Under such circumstances, Guatemala and Salvador, hemmed in as they were between provinces that had already become annexed to Mexico, could not maintain an absolute independence.
ITURBIDE'S EFFORTS.
Iturbide had large ideas of imperial sway, and was bent on the acquisition of entire Central America, aided efficiently, as he was on this side, by the aristocrats and other dissentient elements, who, perceiving the insignificance they would come to if the nation finally became constituted under a democratic government, which their opponents were aiming at, labored with might and main to defeat the plan.[III-22] They won over with money and fair promises a part of the people, and with Gainza, who expected high rank and offices from the new empire, bound Central America hand and foot, as will hereafter be seen.