racter, from the counsels and society of the whites, must be dangerous to the state, it does not require great penetration to foresee. Perhaps the greatest security from such a contingency may be found in the hatred borne to them by the fourth class of inhabitants, the aboriginal Indians. Still these are negative, rather than positive friends. Their indolence and perhaps their interest, would lead them, in such a crisis, rather to conceal themselves in the woods and mountains, than to act as partizans.
Such is the existing state both of the city and republic of Guatimala. Composed of these combustible materials, its physical and political situation may be regarded as similar. Containing within its bosom an active internal fire under the influence of which it trembles and is convulsed; it is in hourly danger of eruptions more calculated to desolate than to enlighten, to destroy than to improve.
This gloomy prospect for the lovers of true freedom, becomes still darker to the eye of the philanthropist and the Christian, when viewed in connexion with the state of public morals. If a republic be strong in proportion to the mass of virtue concentrated in its population, and if it be in vain to look for political integrity, in the absence of private honour, then is the situation of Guatimala truly lamentable. With a lazzaroni
