Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/279

CH. XVIII.] invasion of Spain: revolutionary opinions began, then, to be canvassed and to gain ground. In 1811, 1812, and 1813, certain more positive movements in favour of independence took place; and, in these, the province of San Salvador took the lead. Nothing, however, occurred of any consequence till the year 1820, when, the constitution of Spain, having been re-established, was, in July of the same year, promulgated in Guatemala.

On the 15th September 1821, the Spanish government, at the instigation of several of the provinces, particularly of San Salvador, and having been further induced thereto by the circumstance of Chiapa having obtained its independence, on the basis of the Mexican plan of Iguala, formed a junta of all the existing authorities, to deliberate on the measures to be adopted. This junta, having, by a great majority, declared in favour of a total separation from the mother country, published a General Act of Independence; upon which there sprung