A notable fact in regard to punishments in Guatemala is their publicity. In New England every effort is made to conceal criminals from public gaze; the punishment which is intended to deter others from a similar act is, foolishly enough, merely a matter of hearsay to the bulk of the population. A silly sentimentality hides the convicts in prisons better and more commodious than the homes of a majority of the people, feeds them with sufficient and wholesome food, and in general wastes more pity on them than it vouchsafes to the honest poor,—and all this at the expense of innocent citizens! In Guatemala I examined many prisons, finding them all open to inspection. The passer-by can see through the grated door of the _carcél_ all the prisoners within. When finally sentenced, the criminals are put upon the public roads and set to work under guard and chained, so that every one may be reminded that the “way of transgressors is hard.” In the prisons they sleep on mats, and receive from the Government a real (twelve and a half cents) a day, with which to buy food. In the new prisons all the modern improvements are introduced, and hard labor is provided in great variety. I believe also that as large a proportion of crimes is detected and punished as in any other country. I have been enabled to follow several cases through the courts, and found the decisions in strict accordance with the law, both in criminal and civil actions. It would be unfair to pass in complete silence the darker scenes in the life of the Guatemaltecan republic; but I confess to an ignorance as to the exact truth of the stories that have been whispered about,—whispers indeed that I heard myself while in the City of Guatemala. Distinguished members of the old conservative party assured me that they lived in daily dread of the Government. Spies and informers were ready at all times to entrap them if in an unguarded moment they should utter their opinion of the political situation, or condemn official corruption. Trial by court-martial—that most odious form of injustice—might result in their banishment or death; and I was told that the laws, however generally wise, really depended on the caprice of the President, who could suspend or annul them whenever he saw occasion. I am sure that these persons believed what they told me with bated breath; but I also know to what extreme opinions political dislikes will lead in these Southern republics. On the death of Barrios and the accession of Barillas, it is said that eight hundred political prisoners were released from the prisons where they had been immured by the late President, often without even the form of a trial. The universal rule of favoritism is too evident to be concealed, and the _amigo del Presidente_ has certainly undue power. To our Northern haste the tedious delay of all official work is a marked contrast, for the officials have not the skill, wisdom, or cunning of the members of our Northern legislatures, who remain