José Antonio Morazán

“ Toward evening we again walked to the river, returned, and taught Doña Bartola how to make tea. By this time the whole town was in commotion preparatory to the great ceremony of praying to the Santa Lucia. Early in the morning, the firing of muskets, petards, and rockets had announced the arrival of this unexpected but welcome visitor, one of the holiest saints of the calendar, and, next to San Antonio, the most celebrated for the power of working miracles. Morazan's rise into power was signalized by a persecution of the clergy ”

“ The progress of Guatemala during the last twelve years, and the advancement of the country towards a modern standard of civilization, has been very rapid, and it is due to the energy and determination of one man, José Rufino Barrios, who stands next, if not equal, to Morazan as a patriot and benefactor of his country. ”

“ The ignorant population, more particularly the Indians, became much excited, and the clerical party proclaimed that the pestilence was due to the poisoning of the waters by the whites, liberals, and foreigners. The consequence was a general outbreak of the lower orders of the people and the Indians, under the lead of Rafael Carrera. In 1840 Morazan sought refuge in Chili, whence in 1842 he went with some followers to Costa Rica, where he was made governor of the state by acclamation. He at once began to organize an army with a view to the reëstablishment of the old federation ”

“ The great political change thus effected in Costa Rica greatly alarmed the reactionists; and specially those of Guatemala, who lost no time in adopting measures to destroy Morazan. This chief, on the other hand, took steps toward the reorganization of Central America, equipping troops therefor. Some of his measures were deemed too severe, giving rise to rebellion in some localities. There were intimate relations between Carrera of Guatemala and General Antonio Pinto of Costa Rica, as well as between the serviles of both states, who, together with the clergy, worked to promote a revolt. ”

“ In 1799, there was born in Honduras a child named Francisco Morazan, who was destined to be the greatest figure in this Central American Confederation. His father was a Frenchman and his mother a native Creole woman of that country. We know little of his youth except 177that he managed to acquire a fair education for that age. He grew up to be a man of impetuous but not sanguinary temperament, and was possessed of great decision and perseverance. ”

“ With many of his officers, who were too deeply compromised to remain, he embarked for Chili. Suffering from confinement on board a small vessel, he stopped in Costa Rica, and asked permission for some of them to land. He did not ask it for himself, for he knew it would be refused. Leaving some of them behind, he went on to join his family in Chili. Amid the fierceness of party spirit it was impossible for a stranger to form a true estimate of the character of a public man. The great outcry against General Morazan was hostility to the church, and forced loans. ”

“ He seeks Captain Morando. Renegades last night attacked some outlying corrals, killed and wounded a number of vaqueros, then set off by starlight toward the eastern passes, taking many cattle and horses."
Morando hastened to the door.
"Pity you can't stay and have coffee with us," said Barcelo.
The Captain's spurs were already jingling on the pavement. "Adios!" he called back.
"A fine fellow, that!" the Colonel remarked. "Sorry I was out when he first came. In the new order I'll have men enough to crush out the renegades once for all. The Captain won't be run so off his feet then." ”

“ Espinosa's communication caused much sensation, and the assembly 111 repealed the act of November 24th, and in its stead provided that the money needed to muster in and equip 500 men should be furnished the general government out of the state treasury.
Morazan, jefe of Honduras, and general-in-chief of the Central American forces, had marched with a division upon the departments of Olancho and Opoteca, and to him were despatched the troops newly raised in Guatemala. Colonel Vicente Dominguez was one of the chief promoters of the revolution of Honduras. ”

“ Barcelo insisted that Moraga should at once accompany him to the card room; whereupon rather reluctantly Moraga left his old friends.
Marcel Hernandez arose to his feet.
"Fellow rancheros, and your ladies," bowing gallantly, "Señor Mendoza, occupied with the young people, is temporarily absent from the room—he is quite a boy, is the señor—and I take occasion to say a word to you. The old government here is worn out, ready to fall to pieces like a used-up carreta. We, the leaders of the people, must find another government—find another ”

“ Captain mine, bearest thou a word for beauty as well as for prowess in athletics?" questioned Moraga.
"The queen has appointed no judge of beauty. Even the wisest would find bewilderment here where all are so fair," replied the gallant Morando.
"Our Captain is a diplomat," smiled the señora. She bowed to the gentleman in question; he yet lower to her.
A messenger advanced, saying with much ceremony: "Señora Valentino, the queen requests you to crown the winners from the dais. Captain Morando, you are commanded before the throne there to read your reports." ”

“ What can we do?"
"Do nothing, my girl, do nothing. Attention paid to such things only nourishes their growth. What does it amount to, anyway?"
Filipo came over to them.
"Captain Morando, and many with him, are dropping down the steep hills, and are coming in this direction. The field glass shows them plainly."
Mendoza and his daughter walked toward the gate.
"Morando is one of the few who have not been influenced by Señora Valentino. He has maintained clear head and uncompromised tongue. Sword and glove he has declared himself for Castilian manhood and womanhood. ”

“ If defeated, Morazan might march directly upon the city, and take signal vengeance upon them; if successful, he might return with his barbarians so intoxicated by victory as to be utterly uncontrollable. A little circumstance shows the position of things. Carrera's mother, an old woman well known as a huckster on the plaza, died. ”

“ The courtyard door was open. Several peons were holding the struggling watchdog while another brought Morando's horse.
"Hold fast those dogs!" Señor Mendoza said to the Indians. "They are as fierce as tigers. Good-night, Captain Morando. Remember two weeks from Thursday evening, at six. My daughter's dueña will be home from Monterey, and we'll have both to dine with us, with perhaps a few friends, just a valecito casero—a little house party. Good-night. Glad you've some men in the village. The country won't be safe till we rid it of those miscreant renegades. Good-night, Captain." ”

“ He at once, by order of the vice-jefe, made known to Carrera that the interests of the public service demanded that he should repair to Mita and take charge of the comandancia there. He made no resistance, and went away with his horde, [VII-21] the inhabitants again breathing freely for a time. [VII-22] Thus were the serviles balked once more. Carrera was sent away from Guatemala, Valenzuela remaining in charge of the state executive. Morazan was at San Salvador recognized as the chief magistrate of the republic, and Vijil held the executive office of that gallant little state. ”

“ Carballo, lays the blame on Rivera Paz, who had no interest in destroying a faction on which his party relied in the emergency of Morazan refusing his aid to the serviles. Morazan, on the 24th of Oct., declared martial law in portions of Guatemala, peremptorily refused to listen to the proposals of the recalcitrants, and marched to Guatemala, leaving the government in charge of the vice-president, Diego Vijil, whom congress had chosen to succeed the murdered Salazar. ”

“ Morazan was beyond the reach of their voice, and they who had been loudest in denouncing him for attempting to control the city by bayonets now denounced him for leaving them to the mercy of Carrera. All who could, hid away their treasures and fled; the rest shut themselves up in their houses, barring their doors and windows: at two o'clock in the morning, routing the guard, he entered with 1,500 men. Salazar, the commandant, fled, and Carrera, riding up to the house of Rivera Paz, knocked at the door, and reinstalled him chief of the state. ”

“ Now, comes this Morando, this villainous Morando——"
"Crisostimo, he is no such thing," defended the señora with indignation.
"A man whom I have often fed at my own table——"
"You never did but once," again interrupting. "Other than that he has never eaten a bite in this house, except the coffee and cake sister Silvia gave him early one morning when he happened to be here."
"Well, he didn't deserve even that."
Señora Valentino came on the veranda. "Why, my dear brother, what has happened? Your face is red and perspiring, and you seem excited." ”

“ The Indian riflemen stood around, sombreros in hand, their weapons lying on the turf, to do homage to death, the final conqueror. Señor Mendoza still held in his arms the clay of his friend, still his tears were falling. 'The Peralta and Mendoza friendship shall live on in our children,' he said in broken voice. 'The living and the dead make this consecration.'"
Morando's horse reared to perpendicular line. Unconsciously the Captain had gripped him with the spurs. The animal sprang from the beaten road through dense masses of underbrush, to the grassy field beyond. ”

“ Morazan's defeat was the death-knell of sons and brothers. It was not a moment for strangers to offer idle consolation, and we withdrew.
Our own plans were unsettled; the very dangers I feared had happened; the soldiers, who had been kept together in masses, were disbanded, to sweep every road in the country with the ferocity of partisan war. But for the night we could do nothing. Our men were already asleep, and, not without apprehensions, the captain and I retired to a room opening upon the courtyard. Don Saturnino wrapped himself in his poncha, and lay down under the corridor. ”

“ The struggle which broke out among Guatemala, Salvador, and Honduras, lasted until 1829, when Francisco Morazan, at the head of the "Allied Army, Upholder of the Law," entered the capital of the republic and assumed dictatorial power.
Of all the Hispanic nations, however, Brazil was easily the most stable. Here the leaders, while clinging to independence, strove to avoid dangerous innovations in government. Rather than create a political system for which the country was not prepared, they established a constitutional monarchy. ”

“ Señora Valentino listened while Morando's clarion voice ordered the movements of the cavalry, and heard the noise of the horses' hoofs die out in a distant rumble.
"Our Colonel was out of breath and could not order the march of his men, therefore our valiant Captain does it for him!" she thought. Then she smiled bitterly. "I have laid bare my very soul before that man, and he could see nothing. He saw only that child, Carmelita Mendoza. What fatality is it that closes the eyes of the one man to me and makes him see only this miss of the province?" ”

“ But the Federal Government claimed to be in existence; and the bare suggestion of General Morazan's marching against Guatimala excited consternation. Several times there were rumours to that effect, and one that he had actually determined to do so; that not a single priest would be spared, and that the streets would run with blood. The boldest partisans trembled for their lives. Morazan had never been beaten; Carrera had always run before him; they had no faith in his being able to defend them, and could not defend themselves. ”

“ These are all forgotten, and Moratín, who remained a good patriot, despite his efforts to Gallicise himself, survives at his best in his brilliant panegyric on bull-fighting—the Fiesta de Toros en Madrid—whose spirited quintillas, modelled after Lope's example, are in every Spaniard's memory.
Moratín's friend, José de Cadalso y Vázquez (1741-1782) , a colonel in the Bourbon Regiment, after passing most of his youth in Paris, travelled through England, Germany, and Italy, returning as free from national [355] prejudices as a young man can hope to be. ”

“ He told me the Señorita Mendoza has thrashed all the bad spirits out of him, and that Padre Osuna has beaten many good spirits into him—yes, I'll pardon the fellow. But there is one thing I never can forget, and that is the way that rascally Morando has treated me." He again glared at Farquharson, left the room and stamped down the corridor.
"It's Crisostimo's way," laughed the señora. "Captain, there is the question of the maps in this chamber, and those wonderful placer mines."
"Why not let Twickenham, our consul, take up the matter? He is entirely dependable." ”

“ Then he spoke.
"I ask pardon of your Reverence," he began, using the forbidden title with unconcealed deliberation. "Your Reverence is a holy monk. He understands Latin and French and English. He understands oranges and grapes, and winepresses and stills, better than anybody else in Portugal. But he doesn't understand all the ways of the world—especially young women."
"While you, José," retorted Antonio, "understand all the ways of the world—especially young women—perfectly." ”