No. 201.
Mr. Hudson
to Mr. Fish.
Guatemala, October 17, 1872. (Received May 21, 1873.)
Sir: Now that I have resided in this republic sufficiently long, and under circumstances that enable me to do so advisedly, I propose to record, for the use of the Department, such information of the country as is not usually embraced in official dispatches, or otherwise readily obtainable by it.
The government of Guatemala is republican in theory, but a military despotism in practice; and just now, and too often so, in its worst form. Its personnel are clothed with the power, whenever the public exigency calls for such exercise of extreme authority, of increasing the number of its congressional representatives by presidential appointment; and as they are made sole judges of such exigency, it always exists when they fail at the polls to secure the return of a safe working majority of its members, or to retain their loyal adhesion thereafter. This convenient provision is a most fruitful cause of popular discontent, and of open revolt when put into practice, and, as it is embraced in most of the constitutions of the Central American states, and, in some form, put into practice by all of them, it will explain why their normal condition is chronic insurrection; for it will readily be seen that under the practical working of their political theory it is only through successful rebellion a change in the personnel in those states can be accomplished.
Another practice, and now being frequently employed, is to declare the elections void in the districts returning opposition members, and at a new election enforce the return of the government candidate through the military.
[Page 441]An additional motive for engaging in the overthrow of existing governments is furnished in the habitual and gross abuse of power by the party dominant; and which, as soon as it finds itself securely planted in power, deliberately proceeds to arbitrarily arrest, imprison, exact tribute from, and corporally punish and banish and execute its personal and political enemies without other cause or form of trial; and to do so with such indecent haste and barbarous coarseness that revolt becomes a necessity, and the only practical way to end existing abuses of power.
From these causes, and the positive insecurity that must follow pecuniary investments, it will be seen that Guatemala offers no present inducement that will compensate our citizens for transplanting themselves or their capital there.
And still it is a most desirable country, and a most remarkable and interesting one, made strikingly so by its volcanic origin, tropical growth, soft climate, even temperature at all altitudes, and by the wide and opposite character of the pure and mixed races which inhabit it. This want of homogeneousness is another disturbing element, and one that will long employ the best statesmanship in finding that happy concordance of castes without which stable government, domestic tranquillity, and solid progress are made impossible. The country was fortunate in the choice of the late administration, whose earnest efforts were unmistakably given in behalf of domestic harmony and peaceful occupation. Under their statesmanship Guatemala not only grew more stable and prosperous than her sister states, but found the time and the means to largely influence theirs, and particularly that of Salvador. But the chiefs who have lately succeeded have, from a belief that it was the surest and best means of securing their own retention of power, forced both states into a war against long-established usages, and against those who have and continue to uphold them, that must cost them their best blood and property, if they be not soon displaced.
Meantime anarchy will reign, industry suffer, and the government power of both be confined to the districts occupied in force by their troops, and because opposed to and by every element that constitutes their best worth.
Lying between 14° and 18° latitude north, and 89° and 93° longitude west of Greenwich, and bordered east and west by the Atlantic and Pacific, with ports over both oceans, Guatemala enjoys large trade facilities that can readily be improved at small cost with the certain return of large profits.
The general physical aspect of the country is broken and mountainous, occasionally rugged even to sublimity; but there are extensive coast flats on either ocean, and in the interior intermediate plateaus, plains, valleys, hills, and mountains at every height.
From that variety it derives all sorts of climates, soils, and natural produce, agricultural and mineral.
The seasons are divided into wet and dry, of about six months each; the former commencing in April, and ending in November, when the latter begins.
The fertility of the soil in some places is such that three crops of Indian corn and two crops of cochineal are grown annually; and full crops of clover and grass every five or six weeks, and agricultural pursuits can be carried on all through the year. The principal staples raised for exportation are cochineal, coffee, sugar, and indigo; and for home consumption, corn, wheat, rice, potatoes, cotton, wool, and tobacco. Mahogany, ebony, cedar, and every description of intertropical timber, [Page 442] and india-rubber and log and other dye woods, are to be found in the forests along her coasts, and constitute a regular article of exportation.
Owing to the broken character of the country throughout its interior, none of the dreaded epidemic tropical diseases prevail there, and but seldom along its coasts, and then but for a short time only. From the same cause but few insectile pests are found in the open and elevated districts; fleas, however, abound there, but the house-fly and mosquito are seldom seen. The mountain air enjoyed at the capital city and like altitudes and exposures is pure, elastic, and strikingly transparent; but I have not found it clothed with the marked invigorating and bracing qualities ascribed to it by Mr. Stephens in his interesting work on Central America. As growth and decay go on incessantly together, and the evil influence of the latter is spread over the entire year, tropical airs must necessarily possess these qualities inferiorly. Sure I am I have never enjoyed a single day of vigorous health through their influence. The climate of the capital city is that of perpetual spring in its mildest form, and such that frosts are unknown and flowers bloom and fruits ripen continuously. The thermometrical variation ranges from 58° to 76° Fahrenheit, the temperature finding the lowest point named during the hours of midday and of midnight, at which time cold winds and moist clouds prevail. The climate of the coast flats is that of perpetual summer, with a mean temperature of 76°, and seldom rising above 90°. The climate of intermediate and higher altitudes corresponds with those given. The flat lands of the Pacific coast run the entire length of the state, have a better climate and soil than those on the Atlantic side, and an average breadth of ten leagues. They are claimed by the native planters to be unsurpassed for growing sugar cane, are comparatively uncultivated, and are instinct with animal and vegetable life. Every animal, reptile, and insect known to tropical countries on this continent abound there; and its primal forests are unsurpassed for giant growth and rich variety. The route to the capital city lies by the way of San José, the coast port on the Pacific, and across these lands and over a good road from that point onward.
From the coast-range, and as you journey inland, scenes of the wildest mountain grandeur, overlooking the softest valley landscapes, are constantly met. And rivers that cast themselves over high precipices and, with torrental force, plow their way to the sea through deep barrancas that wall up nearly perpendicularly, lie on either side. Many villages and valleys are also passed, and their beauty largely increased by the presence of the palm, the olive, the almond, and the orange, and other flowering and fruiting trees of tropical growth. These valleys are well populated, closely but rudely cultivated, and grow in rich abundance and superior excellence most of the products of the country, and the bulk of the cochineal, coffee, indigo, and sugar exported. The valley of Antigua is, perhaps, the most remarkable and highly favored of any in the world as a locality for extended culture and wide variety of products. Formed by the junction of the volcanoes Agua and Fuego, at an elevation of one mile above the sea, and having these on either side, and rising two miles above, and resting on bases over fifty miles in circumference, it finds along their vast slopes every climate and soil needed to grow the products of the three zones, and each product its own native soil with appropriate temperature. The best fruits of the country are grown there, and over thirty Indian villages have their sites around Agua alone. The city of Guatemala is much the largest, and altogether the finest of any in Central America. The native population call it the Paris of Spanish America, and expect [Page 443] you to favor their pretension. It is situated eighty-six miles from the coast port by the road, and near the center of an extensive plain elevated 5,300 feet above the sea, and covers a natural plateau that rises 100 feet above, overlooks the plain, and commands a perfect view of the magnificent mountain-ranges that surround the plain, and of five huge volcanoes that stand up grandly and impressively before you.
The plain is seven leagues in length and four leagues in breadth, and is sufficiently undulating for good drainage purposes. The plateau on which the city stands is one league in length and one mile in width, and melts gradually away to the general level of the plain. Deep barrancas cut down below its level over 1,000 feet, and so encircle the city that the port-road gate is the only point from which you can enter without crossing one of them. These barrancas are remarkable for their grandeur of scenery, and for the varying temperature of the fine thermal springs that gush from their sides, and for their medicinal properties. Two large mounds stand isolated near the port-gate, on one of which is built the fort that commands the road and the city, and on the other the church of Calvary. A similar mound stands at the east end of the city, on which the first church built remains and marks its progress west. These mounds are natural formations of nearly solid rock. Two rows of earth-raised mounds cross the plain near the port-road gate, and preserve a true line and even space from each other throughout their course. The mountain-ranges that surround the plain swell in altitude, as they rise in distance, from one to seven thousand feet above its level, but blend together with perfect effect. Three of the volcanoes seen are three miles in height and over fifty miles in circumference; that of Agua is said to have the tallest and most perfect cone of any in the known world. One of the deepest and most attractive of mountain-lakes lies at the southwest end of the plain, and at the foot of the volcanic group of Amatitlan, in which small fish abound. The whole scene forms a vast amphitheater of connecting views that includes within its scope every material element of a perfect landscape. The physical outline presented is certainly one of superior scenic beauty, and the location one of most commanding prospect. You have the agreeable loveliness of the fairest of tropical plains, the mysterious earth-mounds of the mythical Indian, the romantic beauty of mountain-lake scenery with its glimmering, silvery expanse, the imposing grandeur of lofty and swelling mountain-ranges, and the grand and impressive forms of cloud-capped volcanoes under the eye from one stand-point of view—a panorama that for its magnitude and the rare grouping of its auxiliary settings it would be difficult to find elsewhere, especially when seen bathed in the glowing colors of one of the many gorgeous sunsets that chain you there. The mornings at the city are nearly always surpassingly fine, and up to the hour of 10 o’clock are calm and bright and gratefully refreshing. Their constancy of temperature and unvarying loveliness never fail to captivate strangers and visitants, and contrast pleasantly with the rougher weather that succeeds up to mid-afternoon.
About 10 o’clock the clouds, that have for the duration named left the mountain-tops to float across the plain, and shower, should it be the season for rain, return again and bank themselves in huge fantastic forms above them, those in the north resembling aerial glaciers, with increasing density to the opposite pole; the sky overhead grows clearer and deepens in color, the horizon from the extreme east around to the extreme west becomes all aglow, and a truly gorgeous sunset of dissolving views closes the day, protracted by the huge volcanoes Agua and Fuego, behind which the sun sinks.
[Page 444]Italian residents tell me Guatemala surpasses Italy in the glowing beauty of her rare sunsets, and in the deeper and purer coloring of her unclouded sky.
The city of Guatemala contains many very large and well-constructed private residences, nine principal cathedrals, and nineteen other church-buildings; three hospitals and three colleges that would do credit to any city; one of the best-placed and best theaters extant; an amphitheater that will seat 12,000 persons; a market-block that covers a large square and other noted buildings.
The archbishop’s cathedral is situated near the business center of the city, and covers a solid block of 450 feet. It faces the government plaza west and the market-block east. It is built after Saint Peter’s in Rome, is pure in its architectural design and finish, and is richly hung with paintings of biblical characters and events, some of which are the work of eminent masters and executed centuries ago. The central part of the pile, which is the chapel proper, rises, in the form of a Latin cross, some 50 feet above the connecting divisions, and the dome about 100 feet. The roof is supported by nine rows of columns that give to the aisles formed, as you look down their lighted passages, the appearance of an illuminated avenue.
The connecting divisions are set apart for church uses—that on the north as the bishop’s palace, and that on the south as the College of Infants. The cross-extensions are used to represent the closing scenes of holiday observances, of which they celebrate one hundred and fifty-three annually. The pyrotechnical parts of their public displays are very fine, and that on independence day surpasses everything of the kind I have ever witnessed. On that occasion, in addition to the combination fire-works shown from elevated stands in the plaza, the government buildings, facing solid on the north and west and south blocks of the plaza, are hung with small, variegated, colored lamps, and their arches and columns so draped, wreathed, and festooned that the most imposing and pleasing effect is produced.
The theater is built in the center of a large open square; is constructed with a close observance of acoustic principles, and so as to pass out its audience from front and side doors and its troupe from the rear. A wide hall extends around, and communicates with the boxes by separate doors, and with a commodious promenade-saloon that runs across its entire front, and it combines other conveniences unknown with us. The wall inclosing the square is built with a recess that gives a continuous bench for seating persons, and the back above the recess tastefully carried up after the manner of open panel-work. A wide foot-walk adjoins the wall. Rows of large orange-trees surround the building, and other flowering trees, and statuary, and fountains, and basins are appropriately placed and add to its attractiveness. Here is seen the oleander, 30 feet high, 1 foot in diameter, and with a profusion of bloom, rivaling the crape-myrtle of the Gulf States. This square is the favorite promenade of the élite of the city, and the one to which its dark-browed señoritas mostly come to meet and glow their charms before expectant admirers. The opera season is protracted throughout the dry months with performances on Sundays and Thursdays of each week. The private residences of the principal Spanish families cover more ground and combine more conveniences than do ours, and range from 80 by 160 feet up to 200 feet square. They are all built in the form of a hollow square, stand flush with the street, and have a single entrance-way to them. A wide, raised corridor extends around the inside face of the building and overlooks a spacious court, in which raised flower-beds, flowering shrubbery—the [Page 445] orange, the oleander, and other fragrant flowering trees—and statuary, and fountains, and basins are tastefully placed. The dining-saloon extends across the court and completes the square. Behind the dining-saloon the space is divided into two courts by a high division-wall. One division is appropriated for horses and carriages and servants’ lodgings; the other for domestic uses generally.
The principal saloon takes up the entire street frontage, less a connecting room and the entrance-way. The city is well supplied with water from the adjacent mountain-streams by two elevated aqueducts, built by the Spaniards a century ago. The rain-fall and waste water are conducted by drains to reservoirs in the suburbs, and the water utilized in irrigating the gardens and meadows in its vicinity. The streets run at right angles and due course with the points of the compass, are 46 feet wide, paved with granite, and kept in fair repair and generally clean. All the buildings are faced with cement, carefully polished down; and being white, or nearly so, largely contribute to the beauty of the city as seen from the adjacent mountain-heights.
The population of the republic is placed at 1,200,000, and of the department of Guatemala 134,000, above one-half of which reside in the city and suburbs. The population is divided about this wise Indians, 750,000, Ladinos, 430,000, Spaniards, pure or nearly so, 10,000, Negroes, pure and mixed, 8,000, and foreigners, 2,000. I very much doubt if there be ten thousand pure whites in Central America of all nationalities and sexes.
The Indians mostly reside apart and in villages; many on the estates of planters, which they cultivate, and a part of them in the towns. Every Indian village has its grand plaza, and the usual church and state buildings, and authorities to govern them, and most of the latter are chosen from their own race. They are made intensely Catholic by the clergy, and partially educated by them in Spanish, which is spoken by all of them.
Here and in their normal state the Indians are industrious, mild, and temperate, but when corrupted by military chiefs and service grow rapacious, fierce, and barbarous, and will then put to death all who fall into their power. Those of them who reside apart and in villages raise most of the fruits and produce marketed, and fabricate most of the articles in domestic use and sold in the shops. The Indian’s dress distinguishes his local habitation; and yet with some slight change of color, or manner of wear, they dress alike. The best wear of the male consists of a straw hat, short-sleeved shirt, and short breeches, and sandals. The females are more simply and picturesquely clad, seldom sporting more than a loose waistcoat and a short petticoat, while the children of both sexes run nude.
The Ladinos are the issue of the Spanish father and Indian mother, and of after promiscuous intercourse, which a natural roving appetite inclines them to favor, and which they freely indulge. They habitually seek the towns, form a distinct class there, and constitute the mechanic, shop, and servant division. As a class and caste they are much the intellectual superior of the Indian; better educated and less superstitious; but less loyal to church and state, and too often as malignant, treacherous, and dissolute as they can well be.
The tendency of the light and elastic mountain air found at great altitudes is to expand the chest and create a capacity for easy respiration, and to develop in rich fulness the physical person, particularly of those who live in the open air and on simple diet.
From such cause the Ladinos, not injured by early excesses, have fine, [Page 446] full chests and good physiques. Especially is this true of the younger and uncorrupted females, who are distinguished for the voluptuous swell of their busts, fine, lithe forms, and erect and graceful carriage, early acquired from a habit of bearing parcels on the head. But the fine physical development described is not confined to the Ladinos. The Indians of the Altos possess it more fully, and the Altos girl particularly. But she is less richly endowed otherwise, and by no means graceful in carriage or movement. Whereas the Ladino girl is not only finely formed, and lithe and graceful, but the most elegant walkist perhaps in the world. Indeed Ladino girls with model forms and perfect busts that stand firm and plump without support, are Often met tripping along the sidewalks with inimitable grace and freedom, and with such perfection of elastic footstep as makes theirs the true poetry of human locomotion. From the conquest of the country the Spaniards have continued its governing class and to hold most of its realty. By law the realty and personalty are exempt from taxation, and the government run by impost and export duties and monopoly grants; and when hard pressed by active revolt, forced loans and the confiscation of real and personal property are resorted to. These methods are also employed to enrich its personal. Descendants of the best blood in old Spain and of the chivalrous hidalgos who conquered and peopled the country anew, the leading Spanish families continue to live after the ostentations and expensive manner introduced by their ancestry, and this their fine estates, cheap labor, and abundant produce enable many of them to do.
Under the severe discipline of their educational system as enforced by the Jesuit fathers, their youth ripen into good scholars, and are made conversant with fashionable etiquette and usages. As a rule, the dons are quiet, reticent, grave, and seemingly impassible, but make fair husbands, and good fathers and neighbors. Studiedly polite and punctiliously exact themselves, they look for a full return from others, and will estimate you by your conduct in matters of etiquette, and even contend with you against being made the recipient of a privilege not theirs by the custom of the country. This characterization does not include the professional, political, and military chiefs of the country; theirs is drawn elsewhere, or indicated. The donas and senoritas—as ladies are the world over—are far more free, impressive, and impressible than the opposite sex. They are charmingly gracious in speech, easy and winning in manner, and will exhaust all their feminine power of blandishment to make the call a pleasant one when visited. They excel in the lighter accomplishments of their sex, and particularly in music and the dance. Some of them have great personal beauty and elegance of carriage; and most of them are blonde, with dark eyes and hair. Those of the better class will compare well with any people for good morals, discreet conduct, and admirable behavior. Whether it is owing to the force of habit, climate, educational or religious training, or to bad government, or to all of these combined, I will not undertake to resolve; but it is readily discoverable that all classes of the native population are wanting in the vigor of thought, restless energy, and wide enterprise that distinguishes our countrymen, and which have placed ours so far in advance of the Spanish American states. Their government is a military despotism in its worst form; their religion is intensely Catholic and offensively intolerant, and their prejudices too closely incorporate with their being for displacement.
Centuries of good government, by way of example, from ours, will produce no reform of church and state abuses with them. A close study of the different castes of the Central American states has convinced [Page 447] me that republicanism is a plant that requires too much nourishment to flourish under their culture, or to find permanent root there; and that the genius of each unfits them for its acceptance or reduction to practice.
To become republicanized they would have to put on new habits, adopt new usages, largely modify their religious and political theories, and their manner of enforcing them. The change required is altogether too sweeping and radical for their accomplishment, and one they will never undertake so long as the freedom of choice is left with them.
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I have, &c.,