"In 1821, after numerous revolutions, Central America succeeded in throwing off the yoke of Spain. A Congress assembled at Guatemala in March, 1822, and founded the Republic of Central America, composed of Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. The new Republic had but a short existence; after numerous civil wars the Union was dissolved, October 26, 1838, and the five States of the Republic became so many independent countries. Several attempts toward a reorganization of the Constitution of the Republic of Central America remained fruitless and had cost the lives of certain of their authors, when, through the influence of Dr. P. Bonilla, President of the Republic of Honduras, a treaty was concluded between Nicaragua and Salvador, according to which the three Republics constituted a federation under the name of the Greater Republic of Central America. The three Republics became States, and the sovereignty of the federation was exercised by a Diet composed of three members, one for each State, and which convened every year in the capital of the Federal States. "On the invitation of this Diet, the three States appointed a delegation which met as a Constituent Assembly at Managua, Nicaragua, and established a constitution, according to the terms of which the three States took the name of the United States of Central America, November 1, 1898. This Constitution, grand and patriotic, which, in the minds of those who had elaborated it, meant a complete consolidation of the three Federal States and a speedy realization of a reorganization of the Grand Republic of Central America, dreamed of by Morazan, had a sad ending. The day after the meeting of the Constituent Assembly a revolutionary movement hostile to the new federation broke out in Salvador and gave a new administration to this State. Its first act was to retire from the Union, and this secession brought about the dissolution of the United States of Central America; for, following the example of Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua took back their absolute sovereignty." _H. Jalhay, quoted in Bulletin of American Republics, March, 1899._ {73}