Note VIII-36 — Chapter VIII · GUATEMALA AND HONDURAS. 1824-1840.

Rivera Cabezas wielded a powerful pen, and in a playful way ridiculed the servile party. His Don Meliton dialogues did it more harm than José del Valle with his grave and erudite speeches in congress. He won himself the bitter hatred of that party. The political change of 1839 placed him in the hands of his enemies, and he lost much of his property. He left the country, but family affairs necessitated his return some years after. In his last years his intellectual faculties declined, and the serviles no longer feared him, but their hatred remained, and their insults and abuse hastened his death. His portrait is also given. Montúfar, Reseña Hist., i. 235-7, 246.