CHAPTER V.

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT. 1825-1830.

General Elections—Meeting of the First Congress—Manuel José Arce, First President of the Republic—Foreign Relations—Arce's Prevarications—Conflict with Guatemala—Party Bickerings—Liberals Quarrel with Arce—He Joins their Opponents—Bitterness Engendered—President versus Guatemalan Rulers—Arrest of Jefe Juan Barrundia—Riots at Quezaltenango—Murder of Vice-jefe Cirilo Flores—Arce as Dictator in Guatemala—War against Salvador—Arce Defeated—He Gives up the Presidency, and Cannot Recover It—Bloody War of 1826-9—Morazan the Victor—José Francisco Barrundia, Acting President—Liberal Measures—Peace Restored—Spanish Schemes 79