From the moment Rivera Paz was made the provisional head of the state government, reaction set in and went on with flying colors. Measures in consonance with the wishes of the retrogressionists were adopted one after another as fast as they could be drawn up.[VIII-58] These decrees should have satisfied Carrera and his supporters; but it seems that they did not; his faction became more and more recalcitrant. He found himself closely pressed; but, unfortunately, General Guzman was persuaded to enter into arrangements with him at El Rinconcito. This, however, did not bring peace to the state for any length of time. In the latter part of January 1839 Rivera Paz was deposed by Cárlos Salazar, military commander of Guatemala,[VIII-59] but reinstalled by Carrera on the 13th of April.[VIII-60] This disturbed condition lasted some time longer. The state declared itself independent on the 17th of April of the same year, and the only form of union maintained with the other states was by special treaties of allowance,[VIII-61] in which the states mutually acknowledged their independence and sovereignty, and pledged themselves to reconstruct Central America. All efforts, however, to reëstablish order were in vain, owing to the political complications caused by Carrera's rebellion in March 1839. His capture of Guatemala on the 19th of March, 1840, and the end of the struggle between him and Morazan, which has been narrated, did not materially change the state of affairs; at all events, resolutions subsequently adopted by the assembly had little weight.[VIII-62] The only important ones were the restoration of the fuero eclesiástico,[VIII-63] and the creation of a medical faculty in the university. Thus, after sixteen years of continual strife, Guatemala found herself again an independent and impoverished state. Neither of the parties which had striven for supremacy had gained anything. The commonwealth was practically under the dictatorship of an Indian chieftain, whose will even those who had helped him to attain his position dared not dispute. * * * * * [Sidenote: CARRERA'S TRIUMPH.]