Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/189

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4. By a Vice Chief, and

5. By a Supreme Court of Judicature, who shall administer justice according to the laws.

After these preliminaries the constituent assembly began to form a constitution, and in the mean time the different states were left to regulate their internal concerns. With the state of Guatimala the history of the revolution makes us familiar. The influence of the church and the aristocracy always proved pre-eminent; and after various struggles with the liberal party, it succeeded in establishing an executive considerably more moderate than the other states. These struggles however delayed the establishment of its government; and its constitution, as a state, was not decreed until the eleventh of October, 1825.

The province of Salvador, anciently called Cuscatlan or the land of riches, was conquered by Alvarado, in 1525, and its capital founded in 1528. This city, which now ranks second in the republic, contains a population of about 16,000 inhabitants. It is situated in l3° 36" north latitude, and 89° 46" west longitude, eight leagues distant from the Pacific, and is surrounded by hills and mountains covered with wood, and terminating on the north-east in a dormant volcano. Its climate although hot is healthy, and its inhabitants are distinguished as ardent lovers of liberty.