No. 90.
Mr. Williamson to Mr. Fish.
Guatemala, September 16, 1874. (Received October 13.)
Sir: I have the honor to report that the celebration in this city yesterday of the fifty-third anniversary of the independence of Guatemala from Spain was on a grand scale.
The day purports to be in Central America the great national feast of liberty, as the 4th of July really is in our country.
The declaration of independence was read, and a speech delivered in the national palace to the members of the government and municipality and of the diplomatic and consular corps present. The masses of the people on the outside could not hear anything, nor did any one Seem to act as if they ought to hear or had any right to hear.
The tells of the numerous churches were pealed in a lively way early in the morning, at noon, and at 6 o’clock p.m. Salvos of artillery were fired from the castle that commands the city and from the battery of field artillery stationed in the plaza.
There was a creditable pyrotechnic show at night in the main plaza in front of the palace.
The President did not make his appearance at any time during the day. He was present to witness the fireworks.
The whole celebration seemed to me to be given by the government officials, and the people appeared to take no more interest in it than they would in bull-tights or other customary entertainments. There did not appear to be the smallest exhibition of popular enthusiasm. The people acted as spectators who had been permitted to witness the celebration.
In seems unaccountable to an American, who is a stranger in Central America, that republicanism has made so little progress in Guatemala that the fifty-third anniversary of its independence should find it governed by a military chief, a native of the country, who has thought his people so unfit for sell-government that the “republic” has no constitution and the people no representative assembly. Yet there has been progress. Intelligence is more generally diffused; people are slowly learning republican habits and adopting republican ideas; a monarchical hierarchy that fostered superstitions, that only allowed education in a certain direction, and which “gathered gear” unto itself “by every wile,” has been dethroned; agriculture now has the aid of the numerous laborers who were employed in the erection of large edifices for monks and nuns and religious exercises; foreigners are allowed to come into and to trade with the country; other languages besides Spanish are not only permitted to be taught, but their acquisition is encouraged; and Spain is not now, as before 1821, the only market from which Guatemala imports her goods, or to which she is compelled to export her produce.
It is to be hoped, before the hundredth anniversary of the independence of Guatemala is celebrated, that many other beneficial changes will have occurred. Not the least among the most desirable of them is that her chief executive officer shall be elected by a popular vote, and that he will have the benefit of a constitution and representative assembly to relieve him in some measure from the fearful responsibility of acting solely upon his own will, or according to his individual judgment, in the administration of the affairs of his country.
I have, &c.,