Note VII-46 — Chapter VII · DISSOLUTION OF THE REPUBLIC. 1837-1840.

The jefe of Guatemala, on the 17th of April, 1839, declared the federal compact dissolved, and the resumption by the state of its absolute sovereignty. This declaration was ratified by the constituent assembly on the 14th of June of the same year. Guat. on the 11th of May entered into a treaty of amity and alliance with Honduras; on the 5th of June, 24th of July, and 1st of Aug., made similar treaties with Salv., Nic., and Costa R., respectively. July 1st, Hond. and Costa R. for the first time made a treaty of friendship and alliance as sovereign states. Aug. 10th was signed at Quezaltenango the first treaty of a similar nature between the new state of Los Altos and Salv. Marure, Efem., 48-50. Costa Rica had in Nov. 1838 assumed the plenitude of her sovereignty. In obedience to a decree of Braulio Carrillo, the supreme chief of the state, dated Aug. 4, 1838, her representatives and senators had left their seats in the federal congress. The state recognized its share of the federal debt and paid it at once. Carrillo's decree shows that the Costa Ricans were dissatisfied with the inequality of their representation in the national lower house, where Guatemala had 19 more deputies than Nicaragua, 17 more than Honduras, 15 more than Salvador, and 23 more than Costa Rica, which had only four representatives in the 'congreso,' as the lower house was called. The representation in the senate was equal to that of the other states; but if the latter chamber refused its sanction to any bill adopted, the former could, under the 83d art. of the constitution, make it a law by three fourths of the votes present. Thus was Costa Rica made a nonentity in the legislative body. There were other reasons for complaint. By a good management of her finances, Costa Rica always had available resources, and punctually paid her contingent to the national treasury in money. She was therefore taxed while virtually without representation. Montúfar, Reseña Hist., iii. 266-73, 310, 313-41.