Henry Dunn

“ Kitts and Guadaloupe, are seen faintly exhibiting their outlines on the horizon, and the whole forms a striking and not uninteresting picture.
A few more days and we had passed the south side of the island of Jamaica. Its appearance from the sea is singularly romantic: blue mountains encircled by clouds and clothed with verdure to the very summits form the back ground, while richly cultivated sugar plantations interspersed with the cedar and cocoa nut, line the hills and spread along the shore. Nature here at once presents herself in her forms of wild sublimity and luxuriant beauty. ”

“ The streets are mostly broad, but wretchedly paved, with a considerable declivity on each side, which forms a gutter in the middle, so that while after a heavy shower of rain, they are almost impassable from the sudden stream of water, at other times the sharp pointed and ill arranged pebbles extort groans from the unhappy sufferer, who, in light shoes, is doomed to undergo the miserable penance of passing over them.
In walking through the city, the first thought that strikes a stranger is, that Guatimala is one of the dullest places he has ever entered. ”

“ But at sea the every day occurrences of nature seem to exhibit themselves in new forms, and acquire a freshness which clothes them with a new interest. Oftentimes will the sun set with a peculiar splendour, pouring a flood of glory over the whole horizon, and as he dips beneath the waters the reflection of his beams clothe the western clouds in a thousand different hues, abundantly supplying to the fancy golden lakes and palaces adorned with all the magic tints of a fairy creation. ”

“ From hence to the Antigua, a distance of three leagues, the road becomes tolerably level, and the scenery romantic. The mountains lie on each side, covered with verdure, and lined chiefly with stunted oaks, while the river which waters the old capital, rolls murmuring towards it at their feet. The view of the city from a distance, is highly pleasing: its situation is beautiful, and the plain on which it stands, very fertile. ”

“ This confusion of elements gives to Guatimala a character of its own, differing considerably from that of the sister republics. Liberated from the yoke of Spain, not less by uncontrollable circumstances, than by the force of moral feeling; it achieved its independence without an effort, and silently exchanged the rule of a despotic monarch, for the factious struggles of opposing parties. Each has appealed to arms, excited the passions, and called out the energies of a dangerous ally in the coloured population. ”

“ This gloomy prospect for the lovers of true freedom, becomes still darker to the eye of the philanthropist and the Christian, when viewed in connexion with the state of public morals. If a republic be strong in proportion to the mass of virtue concentrated in its population, and if it be in vain to look for political integrity, in the absence of private honour, then is the situation of Guatimala truly lamentable. ”

“ About two leagues from San Christoval we heard a considerable noise, as if produced by the falling of water, and turning through the woods to the left we suddenly came upon the river Michatoyat which here forms most beautiful rapids; immense pieces of rock seem by the giant hand of nature to have been cast in the most fantastic forms, over which a very large body of water passes with a tremendous current, forming in the space of about 200 yards, twelve to fifteen falls, varying in depth and direction. ”

“ The demon of darkness who has so long held with a firm hand, his empire over the finest portions of the New World, has at length received a mortal blow; every day his dying struggles become weaker, and betoken the near approach of that final convulsion which will end only in the silence and powerlessness of death. ”

“ With such an extensive catalogue of productions, Guatimala would seem destined to be one of the most prosperous and wealthy of republics. What important changes may be produced by revolving years, it is impossible to foresee, and must be left for the pages of its future history to relate. At present owing to the indolence and ignorance of its population, scarcely any thing is produced in considerable quantities, or brought to full perfection; and the country although rolling in the midst of natural wealth, remains poor, and the mass of its inhabitants wretched. ”

“ Here the villagers assemble to say mass, every feast day. A small bell raised above the building, serves to call them together out of the valley, and were it to join in simple and spiritual worship, it would yield in such solitudes as these, one of the most interesting and delightful of sounds.
From Omoyta to San José the country is for the most part sterile, and the scenery uninteresting. ”

“ Send then, citizens, your deputies and representatives to the capital, that the will of the provinces may be manifested to all the world; and decree a constitution which shall elevate you to that felicity, which the geographical situation of your soil promises. This is the desire of the authorities. These are the sentiments of Guatimala. If in other countries, and at other times, union is strength, in the present it is especially necessary. Elect then deputies worthy of the people they have to represent. Every thing must be your work. Think of the important business you have in hand. ”

“ The distracted state of the country, the want of finances, the secret hostility of the clergy, and the indolence of the government have all operated againt its establishment. But it cannot be delayed many years. A republican form of government is more than any other a government of opinion, and it will soon be found vain to boast of a freedom whose root is rottenness. Knowledge, universally diffused, is the vital sap of the tree of liberty, and without this strengthening impulse in every branch, its beautiful foliage will fade and wither. ”

“ Mild almost to effeminacy, and inert in the extreme,—to a superficial eye, it would seem the work of ages to awaken them to exertion, or even to make their breasts glow with any thing like patriotic ardour. That very much remains to be done on this point is undoubted, but considering the character of the people, and the limited space of time which has elapsed since the revolution, it should rather excite surprise that so much has been accomplished. ”

“ The Pope and the mass book floated along the stream of blood, and superseded idolatries more harmless perhaps than their own, to substitute the forms of a worship dazzling to the eye, and eminently dangerous, inasmuch as the corruptions of truth are infinitely more difficult to eradicate than errors founded on pure ignorance without system or object. ”

“ The liberals on the other hand, abruptly freed from a thraldom which they had borne for ages, and in some of the provinces suddenly advanced to power and place, seize on every new thing with avidity, plunge into schemes of which they understand nothing, and in their zeal to overthrow all existing institutions, forget to separate the good from the bad, the wheat from the tares. ”

“ It is interesting to watch the slow and silent steps by which men arrive at that height of daring which induces them to risk every thing for freedom; and to observe, as far as possible, the first dawnings of that love of liberty, which “growing with their growth, and strengthening with their strength,” becomes the ruling passion, till, like the rod of the prophet, it swallows up every other. ”

“ Near the town flows a river of excellent water, in which the inhabitants are constantly bathing. At the bottom of one of these hills is a very fine spring, at which the servants fill their pitchers every evening for the succeeding day. It is their general rendezvous about seven in the evening; and to watch them winding up the hill, through the orchards which lead to the fountain, each with her red pitcher on her head, and following one another in a continued line, is quite a primitive scene, and by far the most interesting sight in Gualan. ”

“ In the months of January and February the old and the young, the grave and the gay flock hither to derive as they imagine new vigour from the profuse perspiration they experience, and the bracing influence of this wonder-working water. ”

“ The page of history proves to us that monarchies may exist in the midst of moral and intellectual darkness, but republicanism is a plant of light, and will perish if the sources of its life and vigour be long withdrawn. If therefore Guatimala maintains her independence, she will early apply a remedy to the universal ignorance which prevails among her sons, and from this source alone can any considerable improvement in public morals rationally be expected. ”

“ Peter, announce these truths to your people, that they may be preserved from the flood of heresy which inundates the earth, in this only ark of Noah. Think upon, then, and preach these sayings, that following the voice of the only shepherd to whom God has given the keys of heaven, we may merit and obtain an entrance into the church triumphant, by that port whither the holy and secure ship of the apostle, ever living in his successors, is now bearing us. ”

“ Against Rome, the professed head of Christendom, who prides herself that her bishops are received in direct succession from the apostles; who adores the name of Christ, and glories in offering honour to his most devoted followers—against her is the sentence gone forth, “Double unto her double, according to her works. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much trouble and sorrow give her; for her plagues shall come in one day—death, and mourning, and famine! and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” ”

“ Every country has some one principal branch of industry, on which the greater part of the rest are dependent. Among us it is very visible, that the link of our prosperity has been in former ages, our manufactures of cotton, which occupy a prominent place in our internal riches, because the material is the product of our own land, and capable of considerable augmentation,—because it occupied so many hands in preparing the thread and picking the cotton, and because it was capable of extension all over the kingdom. ”

“ Like them they compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, they make him twofold more the child of hell than themselves. Like them they pay strict attention to the external ceremonial, but omit the weightier matters of the law. Like them they boast themselves in the magnificence of their temples, and forget that God is not worshipped in temples made with hands. ”

“ The daily market is about over, and contains only a few stragglers buying at a cheaper rate the refuse of the day's sales; ten or a dozen half naked Indians are basking in the sun; three or four soldiers are reclining against the pillar of the piazzas, humming a revolutionary air; and a little further on are two or three devoted Catholics most devoutly kneeling before the image of a saint, and apparently in a state of the most perfect abstraction. ”

“ The ladies, who in a morning are to be seen only in black, now parade the streets in dashing silk gowns, and without any covering for the head, while the fashionable beaux lounge by their sides in printed cotton jackets and Spanish cloaks, with one end carelessly thrown over the right shoulder. The shops, although generally well supplied with goods, possess no attractions. All are without windows, and nothing is displayed ”

“ They comforted themselves by the thought that if we kept the Sabbath more strictly than they, we did not attend to the various feasts which the Romish church sets apart as sacred. It seems out of their power to imagine that a religion of love can exist, and can only conceive of the Bible being read by Protestants, as a lahour for which they hope to receive heaven. ”

“ Still there are fashions in Guatimala which it would require more than common charity to speak of with respect, and among these stands foremost the immoderate use of tobacco by both sexes. In private or in public—alone or in society, the Guatimalian must have his cigar, and the lady her cigarrito. [1] His proudest accomplishment is to strike a light with his pocket match, neatly cased in silver, and present his lighted cigar to her genteely, and she in return, permits him to spit in every corner of her room, without molestation. ”

“ Thus ignorant not only of the luxuries, but even of what would seem the commonest necessaries of life, they know no wants, and however poor and miserable they appear to an European eye, having their hut, their maize, and especially if to this they can add a little spirits, they consider themselves abundantly rich. When oppressed by the alcalde, they fly to the priest, who hears all their grievances, and generally sees them redressed. The women suckle their children with great care, and rarely trust them with another, carrying them at their backs whenever they have occasion to go out. ”

“ Each succeeding day bears the features of its predecessor, and its events are only varied by perhaps a sail in the distance, or the appearance of some one of the various inhabitants of the deep. In the absence of all the artificial excitements of society every object acquires an interest, and the wonders of nature in one department at least are for a time rescued from the neglect to which they are generally condemned. ”

“ One threw himself in a hammock, others seated themselves on the table, or on beds, and all began at once to inquire the news, and to discuss politics with the greatest vehemence, smoking and spitting on the floor most profusely. ”

“ While these events were taking piace in Guatimala, the flame of independence had broke forth in more than one quarter of the new world; and, by the year 1821 the fate of Mexico was decided. Every post brought intelligence of the proceedings of the patriots in New Spain, and the fermentation which such intelligence naturally produced on the minds of the people, became universal. In this extremity, arrived Gavino Gainza, appointed by the Cortes of Spain, bringing with him the news of the recent political changes in the peninsula, and the establishment of the constitution. ”

“ The Americans, frankly acknowledging themselves deficient in information, and especially in knowledge of the world, bitterly accuse the Spanish nation as the cause of their misfortunes, and console themselves with the imaginary possession of a “viveza,” or aptitude, which, properly cultivated, would have produced master-spirits, capable of wielding with credit the rod of empire in the new world. ”

“ Were the rich and fruitful lands, which lie from Comayagua to Truxillo, from the Llanos, Gualan, and Coban, to Omoa and the Golfo Dulce, and those which stretch along the extensive coast of the South Sea, filled with an industrious population, willing to cultivate the various fruits which are the natural productions of this favoured spot, blessed as it is with every variety of climate and of soil, there is not perhaps a country in the world, which would he more prosperous. ”

“ Consisting of only one story, and occupying a great deal of ground, they present to the street only a series of white washed walls and red tiled roofs, with here and there a window, carefully gnarded by large bars of iron, and a pair of massy folding doors, studded on the outside with heavy nails, thus giving to it, at the best of times, more the appearance of a deserted than an inhabited city. ”

“ I told him, religion was too important to change with climate, but he at once offered to answer to God for me, assuring me he possessed the power of pardoning sin, and that what he sealed on earth would be sealed in heaven; yet this man is totally destitute of every kind of religious feeling, and as ignorant as it is possible for man to be. ”