Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/12



following sketches have been published chiefly from the conviction that Central America is in great measure unknown ground.

In order to insure the correct statement of historical events, the author requested the late British Consul, as well as the Consul General of the Low Countries, to examine this MS. The former was occupied in doing it a few days before the melancholy event happened which occasioned his death; and to the friendship of the latter gentleman, in whose company he made the tour, which forms the last part of this book, the author is indebted for many valuable communications.

He is aware that there are individuals who will complain of his work not being more exclusively religious. To such he can only reply that piety was intended to sanctify, not to exclude the business of the world; and in his opinion, in order to do good in any country, it is necessary to know it, not merely in a moral and religious point of view, but politically and statistically.