Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/517

Rh Country: the battles fought for its independence were merely with the neighbouring states; and, previously to its organization as a republic, the horrors of war and bloodshed never visited the tranquil plains of Santiago, excepting in the few skirmishes that took place during the time in which Iturbide attempted to urge his unjust pretensions, and endeavoured to unite the captaincy of Guatemala to the Viceroyalty of Mexico, to constitute his empire. Its military enterprise was then divided into two factions; one in favour of absolute independence, and the other subservient to the views of that would-be despotic chief: the result of that contest has proved creditable to the prowess of those leaders who were animated by the views of liberty, and shows that the troops, who shared their sentiments, were able to compete with numbers larger than their own, and, ultimately, to expel them from the field of action.

The general state of the military defence