Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/20

vi difficulty in asserting, much original, and I trust useful, information. Of all the Colonies of Old Spain, no one, I repeat, is so little known as that of Central America. Placed in the isthmus which divides the two continents, its situation is most favourable to commerce. It was formerly a captain-generalship, not subject to, as it has been erroneously believed, but always independent of the Viceroyalty of Mexico; and, having established its independence as a free state, which has been acknowledged by that Republic, it has hitherto maintained its integrity out of its own resources—the capital amount of the pecuniary assistance which it has derived from foreign countries not being more than one year's income of the Government.

The Map which faces the Title-page is intended to exhibit the Five States of the Federation, with their respective Districts, conformably to the recent divisions established by the Congress.