[IV-33] The 1st of June had been the date originally fixed upon, but some preliminary work not having been completed in time, the installation was necessarily delayed. Marure, Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., i. 83.
[IV-34] Chiapas was not represented, that province having continued detached from Cent. Am.
[IV-35] It is said that Filisola installed the congress, the Mexican troops taking part with the native ones in paying honors to the national representatives. Till the organization of an executive, the first decrees were addressed to Filisola, as superior political chief, for their execution. Mem. Rev. Cent. Am., 20. That body, the first as well as the most numerous, was at the same time the most enlightened that the republic ever had. Marure, Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., i. 83; Id., Efem., 7; Guat., Recop. Leyes, i. 16-24.
[IV-36] The full text with the names of the delegates present appears in Marure, Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., i. xiii.-xviii.; and Rocha, Código Nic., i. 19-23. Its principal clauses were: 'That the said provinces ... are free and independent from old Spain, from Mexico, and every other power, alike of the old and the new world, y que no son ni deben ser el patrimonio de persona ni familia alguna.' Translations into other languages may be seen in Revue Américaine, i. 377-97; Democratic Rev., i. 486-7. The act was drawn up by the deputy José Francisco Córdoba, who was a member of the committee to whom the matter had been referred. Mem. Rev. Cent. Am., 21.
[IV-37] Guat., Recop. Leyes, i. 24-32.
[IV-38] Aug. 20, 1824. Dublan and Lozano, Leg. Mex., i. 713; Alaman, Mem. á las Cám., 9.
[IV-39] Decree of July 15, 1823. Guat., Recop. Leyes, i. 32-3.
[IV-40] The party was mainly composed of members of the so-called noble families, Spaniards, civil and military officers, the clergy, and the most ignorant class of the population. It was therefore the most numerous. Montúfar, Reseña Hist., iv. 259.
[IV-41] As he was then in the United States, the canon Antonio de Larrazábal was to be his substitute during his absence. Larrazábal having declined the position, it was given to Antonio Rivera Cabezas. Guat., Recop. Leyes, i. 164-70; Marure, Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., i. 88; Id., Efem., 8; Mem. Rev. Cent. Am., 22.
[IV-42] The moderados wanted José Dionisio Herrera of Honduras, in the triumvirate, to avoid the undue influence Salvador would exercise, having two of her citizens in the executive, and because they considered Herrera intellectually superior to Villacorta. No one thought of José del Valle, who was then in Mexico. Cuevas, Porvenir de Mex., 256-7, erroneously states that the supreme authority was offered Filisola and he declined it. He declined the office of jefe político of Guatemala.