Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/177

Rh by the court of Spain, varying from fify to six thousand dollars, the whole of which amounting to near ninety thousand dollars annually, were held by individuals forming, by intermarriages, one sole family; of these, nearly all were Americans by birth, but the sons of European Spaniards. In every office, brothers succeeded to brothers, nephews to uncles, relations to relations. Even in the Chamber of Commerce, the same spirit of family was all powerful. In the Royal Cedula, for its formation in 1793, the thirty-ninth article nominates the thirty individuals of whom it is to be composed; and here too the same names only are to be found; so that with the exception of this body, who may be termed the aristocracy, the Guatimalians saw themselves irrevocably shut out from every office, either of honour or profit.

About the years 1803 and 4, commenced that plague in the public purse of Spain which is still raging and threatening destruction to the empire. The colonies were resorted to, and a voluntary subscription required. On the part of Guatimala, this was supplied most liberally, the citizens vying with each other in loyalty towards the mother country. Contribution after contribution was the only recompense the Americans received for this act of generosity, and the