The federal congress that was dismissed in October 1826 assembled on the 22d of June,[V-93] under the presidency of Doroteo Vasconcelos, and on the 25th José Francisco Barrundia[V-94] assumed the office of president of the republic, he being the senior senator, and having been specially called thereto by the congress, though the real power in the country was Morazan.
EXPULSION OF FRIARS.
The chief point of discussion in congress[V-95] was, what to do with the prisoners. Some members favored their execution, and though others disapproved of such a disposal of them, none had sufficient courage to openly condemn such vindictiveness. The discussions continued till July 9th, when a number of the prisoners were sent under an escort to Sonsonate, to be embarked at Acajutla and expatriated.[V-96] Two days later a similar blow was struck at the church, evidently because of the sympathy of its head men with the servile party.[V-97] During the night between the 10th and 11th of July, an armed force, acting under orders of Morazan, who issued them in accordance with the views of the acting president and the jefe of Guatemala, seized the archbishop and the friars of several orders, and despatched them to the Atlantic coast, where they were embarked for Habana. Several of the friars are represented to have died on the voyage.[V-98] Whether there was sufficient cause for so violent a proceeding is doubtful. However, the federal congress thanked the executive for his zeal. The sentence of expatriation against the archbishop was not formally issued till about a year after.[V-99] On the 28th of July the assembly of Guatemala decreed the suppression of all monastic establishments of men, excepting only the Bethlehemite hospitallers, who were allowed to remain as secular priests, and prohibited in the nunneries vows and professions in the future. All the temporalities of the suppressed convents were declared confiscated to the state. The federal congress approved this act on the 7th of September, declaring that the nation would no longer receive or recognize within its territory any religious orders.[V-100]
Peace being finally restored, the large army of Morazan was gradually dissolved, and the leader became a candidate for the presidency. The necessity of an energetic man, such as Morazan was, at the head of affairs, was quite apparent, for new difficulties were threatening from different quarters. Costa Rica, disapproving the course of Salvador, declared her secession from the union, and it was only after much persuasion that she retracted it. The federal government, and that of the state of Guatemala, now in charge of Pedro Molina,[V-101] clashed on several occasions, and specially when, in 1830, the question of constituting Guatemala city as a federal district again came upon the tapis. The state rejected the plan, as on every previous occasion.[V-102] A project of Molina to reform the confederation met with the same fate. He favored the model of the Swiss republic at that time, abolishing the expensive machinery of a federal government, which was almost continually at variance with the different states.[V-103] The failure of this scheme brought with it the downfall of Molina, who was afterward suspended on fictitious charges and tried, and though acquitted, was not reinstated.[V-104]
SPANISH EFFORTS.
The plan of King Fernando VII. of Spain for the reconquest of his former American dominions, and the steps he was taking to accomplish it, naturally caused a sensation in Central America, where that monarch would be sure to find elements favorable to his views. The so-called nobles, who had endeavored, after the downfall of Iturbide and the separation from Mexico, to establish in Central America an aristocratic republic, such as that of Genoa or Venice, had been again balked in their aims by the successes of Morazan. In their disappointment they turned their eyes to Fernando, and through special agents, as well as through Archbishop Casaus, made known to the captain-general of Cuba that the circumstances Central America was then in were most propitious for the restoration of the royal sway; for, as they asserted, all honest, right-thinking men and women in the country yearned for it, and the Indians were likewise anxious for the change. Therefore, the only opposition thereto lay in the comparatively small number of aspirants to public offices, who made revolution in order to control the public funds for their own benefit. Such reports were full of encouragement for the Spaniards who were intriguing in behalf of Fernando's interests, which were probably also their own.
Positive information was at last received from a reliable source that Spain was preparing, in Habana, an expedition to land at Omoa and march on Guatemala, where it expected to find the requisite coöperation.[V-105] This report coincided with the departure of the Spanish expedition under Brigadier Barradas to Tampico.[V-106] President Barrundia, on the 3d of September, 1829, issued a stirring address; and the congress, in October and November, with the sanction of the executive, passed an act forbidding Spaniards to enter or land in Central American territory under any pretext. The ports of the republic were closed to the Spanish flag, and to the products and manufactures of Spain, her colonies, and dependencies.
There were not a few Spaniards who, together with the self-styled nobles of native birth, desired to see the flag of the old country waving again over Central America. That anxiously wished for day had become almost the only subject of conversation in their circles, of which the assembly of Guatemala took due warning. In November it declared the sequestration of all property belonging to Spaniards who dwelt in the republic, coupled with the assurance that none should be restored till Spain had formally recognized the independence of Central America.[V-107]
CHAPTER VI.
CIVIL WAR.
1829-1838.
Revolution in Honduras—Conservatives Invade the State—Second General Elections—Francisco Morazan Chosen President—Plots of the Serviles—Arce's Invasion from Mexico—Occupation of Honduras Ports by Exiled Rebels—Spanish Flag Hoisted in Omoa, and Aid from Cuba—Salvadoran Authorities in Rebellion—Third General Elections—Morazan Reëlected—Failure of Colonization Plans—Ravages of Cholera—Indian Revolt under Carrera—His Early Life.