Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/203

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BARRIOS
BARRIOS
177


eia Granados joined him against the government of Vicente Cerna, and on 3 July they issued the "Plan de Patzicia." After the encounters in Tacanii, Retalhulen, Chiche, Tierra Blanca, Cochin, and San Lucas, in which he showed great courage and military ability, Barrios entered the capital and put an end to the regime established by Carrera in 1840, called "the thirty years." Gen. Garcia Granados filled the presidential office, and Barrios remained as chief of the army at Los Altos. But a revolution against the new government soon broke out, and Barrios defeated the insurgents in the battles of Cerro Gordo and Santa Rosa. On 11 Dec, 1872, began another revolution headed by Gen. .Jose Maria Medina, president of Honduras, who intended to reinstate the reactionary party. The governments of Salvador and Guatemala effected a union, and Gen. Garcia Granados left the capital, taking command of the army. Barrios was left in charge of the presidency, and at once decreed the freedom of the press (8 June) and the suppression of religious orders, after which Garcia Granados resumed his functions as president and Barrios continued his as chief of the army. A new revolution broke out in the east and was quelled by Barrios, who captured Melgar, Fuente, and other leading insurgents. On 8 May of that year the constituent assembly, instituted by Garcia Granados, proclaimed that Barrios was elected president for the first constitutional term. He entered office, 4 June, 1873, and a month later there was another insurrection headed by Enrique Palacios, accompanied by other revolutionary movements in the mountain region; but in four weeks peace was reestablished, which lasted till 1876, when President Gonzalez, of Salvador, and President Leiva, of Honduras, cooperated with the reactionary party of Guatemala against Barrios. Gonzalez was deposed, and his successor, Andres Valle, in a conference held at Chingo, agreed to leave the questions at issue to be arranged by Dr. Marco Aurelio Soto with the aid of Salvador and Guatemala. Owing to the influence of Gonzalez the agreement was not fulfilled. Barrios went in person to attack Salvador, and after the battles of Platanar, Chalchuapa, Apanica, and Pasaquina, the Salvadorians, having resisted for two months without success, capitulated. In 1876 the national assembly approved the acts of Barrios. An attempt was made to assassinate him in 1877 while he was visiting at San Pedro Jacopilas, near the Mexican frontier. The conspirators called themselves the "society of death," and their purpose was to kill Barrios and several of his ministers, and even women and children; but the whole plot was discovered, 1 Nov., 1877, and the chief instigators were shot. Another assembly met in Guatemala in 1879 and decreed (11 Dec.) the first constitution of the republic, a very liberal one, which was put in operation 1 March, 1880, and Gen. Barrios was reelected for six years; but he declined, saying that power should not be too long in the hands of one man, that Guatemala needed new rulers not so tired as he was of public life and who could completely establish republican principles. The assembly, however, would not accept his refusal, and he was inaugurated. The boundary question with Mexico was again brought forward, and Barrios proposed the intervention of the United States in 1881. On seeing that Gonzalez, president of Mexico, insisted upon agitating the subject, Mr. Romero, Mexican minister at Washington, agreed to that proposal, leaving the final determination of limits between Mexico and Guatemala to the president of the United States. The negotiations were far advanced, conducted by Secretary Frelinghuysen and Ministers Romero and Montufar, when Gen. Barrios came specially authorized by the assembly of Guatemala to settle the question at issue; but some misunderstanding, chiefly between Barrios and Montufar, brought the negotiations to an end here, and the question was arranged in accordance with the original conditions, by which Guatemala ceded the Chiapas and Soconusco districts to Mexico. After travelling through the United States and in Europe, Barrios returned to Guatemala, and on 13 April, 1884, there was another attempt to kill him, a bomb being exploded near him. On 28 Feb., 1885, with the assent of the national assembly, his ministers, President Zaldivar, of Salvador, and President Bogran, of Honduras, Gen. Barrios published his proclamation intended to effect the union of all the Central American nations in one republic, and on 6 March issued a decree with directions as to the way of effecting said union. The people and the army congratulated Gen. Barrios and offered him their support, and the proclamation of the union produced universal joy. One week afterward confusion began, and troops were sent against Salvador ; Barrios himself went to the front, but for several days no hostilities occurred. Salvador and Honduras had agreed to the union months before, while Costa Rica and Nicaragua held back from dread of Barrios. But Zaldivar, president of Salvador, now receded from his promises and revealed himself as the foe of Barrios and the union. Barrios did not begin the war until Zaldivar, made bold by the help he fancied Mexico would give him, ordered his troops to cross the frontier and attack the Guatemalan forces. Zaldivar was deceived as to assistance from the Mexicans. They protested against Barrios's tyrannical action in attempting to annex the other Central American states to Guatemala, but did nothing. When Barrios heard that Gen. Diaz was opposed to a Central American union he said: "I want for my country the union that gives strength and leads to progress and prosperity. I made a revolution in 1871 to deliver my country from misery, oppression, and ignorance, and wish now to consummate the work of the immortal Morazan. I did not expect Diaz, who imbrued with blood the Mexican soil, to find fault with me as a revolutionist when I try to effect, peacefully if possible, the union of these small countries." The Salvador troops were speedily repelled, and Barrios entered the enemy's country and proceeded to attack Santa Ana, by that time garrisoned by about 7,000 men and defended by earthworks. The actual fighting began on 30 March, the day when the Salvador troops crossed the frontier; but by 2 April Barrios had taken the fortress, and all Zaldivar's troops had fled into the interior. There was nothing now to prevent the Guatemalan troops from overrunning the whole of Salvador, and Honduras was already despatching a force to join them. As they approached the village a timid officer was afraid to lead his regiment in first, dreading an ambuscade. Barrios accordingly put himself at their head and was the first to enter the streets. The main body of the garrison had fled, but some sharp-shooters were left in the church-tower and on the roofs of the houses. A bullet from one of these struck Barrios down, and at the same moment his son was killed by his side. This happened at Chalchuapa between nine and ten in the morning. When the foremost Guatemalan troops saw Barrios fall they were seized with panic and fled, meeting the rest of the advanc-