Page:Incidents of travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan.djvu/211

Rh which being ignorantly administered, sometimes produced fatal consequences; and the priests, always opposed to the Liberal party, persuaded the Indians that the government was endeavouring to poison and destroy their race. The Indians became excited all over the country; and in Matasquintla they rose in mass, with Carrera at their head, crying "Viva la Religion, y muerte a los Estrangeros!" The first blow was struck by murdering the judges appointed under the Livingston Code. Galvez sent a commission, with detachments of cavalry and a white flag, to hear their complaints; but while conferring with the insurgents they were surrounded, and almost all of them cut to pieces. The number of the disaffected increased to more than 1,000, and Galvez sent against them 600 troops, who routed them, plundered and burned their villages, and, among other excesses, the last outrage was perpetrated upon Carrera's wife. Roused to fury by this personal wrong, he joined with several chiefs of villages, vowing never to lay down his arms while an officer of Morazan remained in the state. With a few infuriated followers he went from village to village, killing the judges and government officers, when pursued escaping to the mountains, begging tortillas at the haciendas for his men, and sparing and protecting all who assisted him. At this time he could neither read nor write; but, urged on and assisted by some priests, particularly one Padre Lobo, a notorious profligate, he issued a proclamation, having his name stamped at the foot of it, against strangers and the government, for attempting to poison the Indians, demanding the destruction of all foreigners excepting the Spaniards, the abolition of the Livingston Code, a recal of the archbishop and friars, the expulsion of heretics, and a restoration of the privileges of the Church and old usages and customs His fame spread as a highwayman and murderer; the roads about Guatimala were unsafe; all travelling was broken up; the merchants were thrown into consternation by intelligence that the whole of the goods sent to the fair at Esquipulas had fallen into his hands (which, however, proved untrue); and very soon he became so strong that he attacked villages and even towns.

The reader will bear in mind that this was in the State of Guatimala. The Liberal party was dominant, but at this critical moment a fatal division took place among its members; Barundia, a leading member, disappointed of a high office for a profligate relative, deserted the administration, and appeared in the Assembly at the head of the opposition. Party distraction and the rising of Carrera stirred up all who were dissatisfied with the government; and the citizens of the Antigua, about twenty-five miles distant, sent in a petition for a decree of amnesty for political offences, allowing exiles to return, and a redress of