Though he "persuaded" Honduras to accept the plan, the three other republics preferred to unite in self-defense, and in the ensuing struggle the quixotic Barrios was killed.

A few years later the project was revived and the constitution of a "Republic of Central America" was agreed upon, when war between Guatemala and Salvador again frustrated its execution.
In Brazil two great movements were by this time under way: the total abolition of slavery and the establishment of a republic.

Despite the tenacious opposition of many of the planters, from about the year 1883 the movement for emancipation made great headway.

There was a growing determination on the part of the majority of the inhabitants to remove the blot that made the country an object of reproach among the civilized states of the world.

Provinces and towns, one after another, freed the slaves within their borders.