Note V-65 — Chapter V · CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT. 1825-1830.

Morazan, Apuntes, MS.; Montúfar, Reseña Hist., i. 53-4. Thus ended disastrously for the federal forces their third invasion of Salvador territory. The actions of Gualcho and San Antonio were the first in which the great Central American soldier and statesman Francisco Morazan figured as a general. Morazan will stand in history in many respects as the best, and in all as the ablest, man that Central America had. He was born in Honduras in 1799, his father being a French creole from the W. I., and his mother of Tegucigalpa, in Honduras. His education was such as he could obtain in the country at that time; but his quickness of apprehension and thirst for knowledge soon placed him far above his countrymen. He was of an impetuous temperament, and possessed at the same time great decision and perseverance. His bearing was free and manly, and his manner frank and open. These qualities could not fail to and did secure him the love and respect of his fellow-citizens, giving him an immense influence over them. In 1824 he was already occupying the position of secretary-general of Honduras, and later was senator, and for a time acting jefe of that state; but his temperament soon made him turn his attention to martial affairs. He ever after was noted as a republican of very liberal views. Squier's Travels, ii. 400; Dunlop's Cent. Am., 170-1; Astaburuaga, Cent. Am., 17. The writer of Mem. Rev. Cent. Am., 92, says that Morazan had been at one time a clerk in a notary's office at Comayagua, where he 'habia dado á conocer disposiciones muy felices, pero poco honrosas, para la imitacion de letras ó firmas.' It has been said that Morazan joined the party opposed to the existing federal government at the instigation of Pedro Molina. Gaceta de S. Salv., Oct. 3, 1851. A portrait of Morazan is given in Montúfar, Reseña Hist., i. 72.