[I-28] The archbishop sent priests to preach against the insurgents. Marure, Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., i. 9. Bustamante, Cuadro Hist., ii. 270, says that the whole country would have been driven into rebellion but for the advice of the able secretary of government, Alejandro Ramirez.
[I-29] Aycinena was, on the 7th of Feb., 1812, made by the Spanish córtes a councillor of state, and in Aug. 1813, entered upon his duties at Cádiz. Córtes, Diario, 1812, xvi. 16; 1813, xxii. 216. According to Zamacois, the appointment was made only after the adoption of the constitution; it is possible that the appointment was then renewed or confirmed. Hist. Méj., viii. 557; Ayon, Apuntes, 15-16; Rev. Cent. Am., 2-3; Salv., Diario Ofic., Feb. 11, 1875; Valois, Mex., 213-16.
[I-30] In 1813 he was elected a deputy to the Spanish córtes, but declined the position on account of ill health. Córtes, Diario, 1813, xxii. 216.
[I-31] A person writing from Guatemala, and referring to a document issued August 1811, in secret session held in London by 33 Spanish Americans, after registering his disapproval of its purpose, positively asserted that the masses were well disposed, fond of peace, and respectful to authority, if some agent of Satan did not turn their heads and make them believe they were superior beings, who needed no ruler over them. Cancelada, Tel. Mex., 438.
[I-32] Before the attack the city was visited by Father Benito Soto, as pacificator and commissioner from the bishop governor. He tried to fulfil his mission without degrading his countrymen; but seeing the object of the war was to crush liberal Americans, he made common cause with the Granadinos. Marure, Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., i. 11-12. Ayon, Apuntes, 17, gives the attack as occurring in August, which is an error.
[I-33] Miguel Lacayo, Telésforo and Juan Argüello, Manuel Antonio de la Cerda, Joaquin Chamorro, Juan Cerda, Francisco Cordero, José D. Espinosa, Leon Molina, Cleto Bendaña, Vicente Castillo, Gregorio Robledo, Gregorio Bracamonte, Juan D. Robledo, Francisco Gomez, and Manuel Parrilla were to suffer death. Among those sentenced to hard labor for life were Juan Espinosa, the adelantado of Costa Rica, Diego Montiel, and Pio Argüello. Ayon, Apuntes, 17-18; Marure, Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., i. 12-14; Rev. Cent. Am., 3.
[I-34] One of them, Manuel Antonio de la Cerda, refused to accept the pardon unless coupled with leave to prefer charges against Bustamante. But an influential friend of the general's prevented its being granted, and Cerda, to get out of the country, escaped on a vessel bound to Sweden; thence he went to Cuba, and lived there several years under an assumed name. Los Anales, Sept. 1, 1872, 30. The noted Nicaraguan statesman, Tomás Ayon, justly bewails the seeming ingratitude of some of his country's writers in saying that Nicaragua's independence had cost nothing. The history of that period, 1811-21, it is true, records no bloody fields, no brilliant feats of arms; but it presents an array of victims to the cause, of men who sacrificed their lives, liberty, and fortunes to secure their country's freedom; and these sacrifices, Ayon claims, should be remembered, and the sufferers' memory held in reverence. Apuntes, 18. Squier, in Travels, ii. 378, speaks of a suppressed revolution in Leon in 1815, giving that city the whole credit of the first impulse to liberal sentiment in Central America. There was no such movement in that year, and he probably had reference to that of 1811, though to Salvador certainly belongs the honor of the first attempt for independence. Pim's Gate of the Pac., 38, prints the same error.
[I-35] More empty rewards for Leon. In 1812 the córtes acceded to the bishop's petition for the creation of a university in this town. It was long delayed, however. The ayuntamiento had conferred on it the title of 'muy noble y leal;' and that of Nueva Segovia was similarly honored. The dean of Nicaragua was much commended in the córtes, Aug. 1813, for his loyal and judicious conduct. Córtes, Diario, 1811-12, xi. 198; 1813, xvii. 247, xxi. 45-6; Córtes, Col. Dec., ii. 47-8, iii. 177; Juarros, Guat. (Lond. ed., 1823), 335-8; Belly, Nic., i. 227; Conder's Mex. and Guat., ii. 309. Bishop Jerez had written the captain-general a warm letter on behalf of the Leonese, for whom he had a special predilection, and said, 'Si me desterrasen un Leones dejo de ser obispo.' Perez, Biog. Sacasa, 7.
[I-36] This bitterness originated bloody wars, and did much harm to Nicaragua. Rev. Cent. Am., 3; Ayon, Apuntes, 15, 18-19; Registro Ofic., Nov. 21, 1846, 381.
[I-37] The $43,538 went on the ship Venganza to Cádiz, and the arrival was announced, Feb. 15, 1813, to the córtes by the deputies of Guatemala. Córtes, Diario, 1813, xvii. 239-40.