[IV-63] Marure, Efem., 12, gives the date as April 10th.
[IV-64] Cent. Am., Informe sobre la Constituc., 1-73, and 1-30. This constitution has been called 'el bello ideal de copiantes y teoristas que soñaron un pueblo para constituirlo, y que no conocian el país en que nacieron.' Mem. Rev. Cent. Am., 36.
[IV-65] The asamblea, foreseeing this, had designed La Antigua as the meeting place of the local congress; but the latter at its first sittings selected for future times the capital. Marure, Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., 179.
[IV-66] Such as to determine the military and financial budgets, superintend the education of the people, declare war and conclude peace, and regulate the financial and commercial interests of the country. Its members were to be elected at the rate of one for every 30,000 inhabitants. Id., 174-5. There were 17 representatives for Guatemala, nine for Salvador, five for Honduras, six for Nicaragua, and two for Costa Rica. Astaburuaga, Cent. Am., 13. Dunlop, Cent. Am., 164, says Honduras had six representatives.
[IV-67] Astaburuaga, Cent. Am., 13. Molina, Costa Rica, 19, criticises this organization as follows: 'Se estableció un senado nulo, un Ejecutivo impotente y un congreso absoluto.' Necessarily the greater number of representatives of Guatemala would outweigh those of the other states, and thus make the constitution only an imperfect copy of that which had originally served as a model.
[IV-68] Part of the constitution is given in Rocha, Código Nic., i. 37-9; on the following pages will be found such clauses of the old Spanish constitution as were retained under the new system. See also Peralta, Costa R., 5; Astaburuaga, Cent. Am., 13-5.
[IV-69] 'Se hacen libres los esclavos que de reinos extranjeros pasen á nuestros Estados, por recobrar su libertad.' Rocha, Código Nic., i. 212-13; Guat., Recop. Leyes, i. 217-9; Marure, Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., i. 133-5; Id., Efem., 10.
[IV-70] Holders of slaves thus emancipated were to be indemnified. We are assured that no one ever applied for such indemnification.
[IV-71] In 1840 Great Britain, would-be champion of the world's high morality, on one occasion claimed the return of some fugitive slaves from Belize, and supported the demand with the presence of a man-of-war. Notwithstanding her weakness, Central America refused to comply, on the ground that under her constitution there were no slaves in the country. Crowe's Gospel, 121-2; Squier's Travels, ii. 385-6; Revue Américaine, ii. 550; Dunlop's Cent. Am., 163. According to Molina, the number of slaves thus emancipated was about 1,000.
[IV-72] 'Una confederacion general que representase unida á la gran familia americana.' Marure, Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., 138.