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History of Mexico (Bancroft)/Volume 5/Chapter 2

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History of Mexico (Bancroft) (1886)
by Hubert Howe Bancroft
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2931725History of Mexico (Bancroft) — Chapter 21886Hubert Howe Bancroft
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CHAPTER II.

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT.

1824-1829.

Authorities Inaugurated — President Victoria — Injustice to his Character — Political Situation — Amnesty for Political Offenders — First Ordinary Congress — Arizpe's Character and Public Career — Germs of Future Calamity — Masonic Lodges and Political Parties — Poinsett — The Press — Financial Troubles — Disturbances in Vera Cruz — Novenarios — Plan of Montaño — Bravo's Rebellion and its Suppression — Expatriation of Bravo and Others — The Yorkinos Triumphant — Presidential Election — Imparciales versus Guerrerists — Santa Anna's Rebellion — Revolt of La Acordada — The Parian Sacked — Congressional Action — Guerrero Made President — End of Victoria's Rule — His Last Days and Death

The constitutional era was now fairly begun. On the 10th of October, 1824, President Guadalupe Victoria and Vice-president Nicolás Bravo assumed their respective offices, after having sworn to support the constitution, and to discharge their duties faith fully. The president s inaugural address shows that he was conscious of his responsibilities. He bespoke the aid of providence and the coöperation of the people, assuring them that the prosperity of the nation was near to his heart. Religion should be allowed neither to wear the garb of superstition nor sink into licentiousness, while for independence he would die.[1]

​Victoria belonged to a respectable family of Durango. His real name was Juan Felix Fernandez; but during the war of independence he changed it, taking as his first that of Guadalupe, in honor of the virgin patroness of Mexico, and as his surname that of Victoria, to commemorate a victory over the Spaniards. He was tall, and though lame, capable of great endurance.[2] For many years he made only one meal in twenty-four or even thirty-six hours. Later he conformed with the usual hours of his countrymen in regard to meals, but ever continued to be most abstemious. He was an honest, unassuming citizen, amiable and kind-hearted, of undoubted courage, and a true lover of freedom. He has been treated fairly but by few. His virtues have been set down as faults, and his talents ignored.[3] But for his prudence and purity of character, his country's troubles during his administration would probably have been greater; and yet they were attributed to his supposed indolence and apathy. Because he would not uphold the schemes of those who wanted him to be their tool, they said that he lacked decision; those who could not induce him to take part in their resentments called him apathetic. His errors were ascribed to a refined malice. The truth is that base ambition never ​entered his heart. He was ever ready to lay aside his private opinion when duty demanded it. His abnegation and utter neglect of his own interests were notorious; his country was his idol.[4] He died so poor that he had to be buried at public expense.[5]

Victoria's administration began under the happiest auspices.[6] The republic was at peace; party violence had been kept under, and every one hoped for the best. The president's authority was disputed by none; and as for money, all the minister had to do was to draw bills on London. And yet there was a dread of impending trouble. Eighty days after the sanction of the constitution, congress authorized the executive to expel all foreigners deemed dangerous; to remove from one place to another, when necessary, any servant of the federation, or inhabitants of the territories and federal district, as also those of the states through the medium of their respective governors. Should the supreme authorities of the states conspire against the national independence, or the adopted federal system, the executive was to bring them under subjection by military force agreeably to article 110 of the constitution.[7] Following this example, the state legislatures voted ample powers to their governors.[8] However, on the 24th of December congress voted an amnesty for political offences, excepting from its benefits only persons convicted of treacherous designs against the ​national independence. By this act Bustamante, Quintanar, and others who had caused disturbances in Jalisco and elsewhere were relieved of all responsibility for their past proceedings.[9] Whatever fears might be entertained of the minister's abusing such powers under other circumstances were quieted by the general recognition of Victoria's circumspection and benevolence.[10]

Among the acts of the constituent congress was that of declaring the constitutionally chosen justices of the national supreme court. They were all prominent citizens of the capital and states. The first president of the court was the licentiate Miguel Doiminguez, till lately a member of the executive.[11] The constituent assembly closed its sessions on the 24th of December to make way for the first constitutional congress, which began its labors on the 1st of January, 1825.[12] It must be stated to the credit of the former that it not only accomplished much in a short time, but also showed much judgment and tact.[13] The senators and deputies chosen for the constitutional congress, during the interval of peace, were men of sound judgment and moderate views; among them were several of the members of the constituent chamber.

​President Victoria retained, as we have seen, the former cabinet; but early in 1825, being displeased with Mier y Teran, he sent him to Vera Cruz with a military comnmission, and appointed as his successor Manuel Gomez Pedraza.[14] Miguel Ramos Arizpe, who had not been re-elected to congress, became temporarily oficial mayor in Llave's department, and when that minister resigned in November, the place was given to Arizpe.

There was great antipathy between Arizpe and Alaman. The former was impulsive, frank, generous, bold, and imaginative, generally acting without method or order; a man withal who made many friends. Alaman was in every respect different. Arizpe, on his return to the Spanish córtes in 1820, after his long imprisonment, wielded great influence, which he used to benefit Spanish America, never neglecting the private interests of his countrymen. He returned to Mexico when she was already a nation, to fill the office of precentor in the diocesan chapter of Puebla. He at once placed himself on the side of the party opposed to Iturbide's empire, advocating republican principles. In the constituent congress he was chairman of the conmittee on constitution, and labored at the task of framing that instrument with all the perseverance and assiduity characteristic of the man. He was a decided federalist. I give in a note further details of his career.[15]

​Toward the end of September Alaman resigned, his influence being nullified by that of Arizpe, Esteva, Pedraza, and others.[16] His successor in the department of relations was Gomez Pedraza, who was soon after replaced by Sebastian Camacho, and on the latter being sent to London as plenipotentiary, Juan José Espinosa de los Monteros was placed in charge.[17]

Seeds of wild calamities are now sown broadcast. Different writers explain their origin according to their several political tenets. The error seems to lie in attributing to individuals social troubles resulting from the general condition of things. The progressionists and retrogressionists, or conservatives, as the latter prefer to be called, imagine that the symbol of opposition has no importance other than that given it by the character and influence of its supporters. Hence the conservative proneness for blood-letting, and the practice of the progressionists of exiling every political opponent.

There was not now, or for some time after, any well established social or political system. There was little left of the old one, bequeathed by Spain at an early day, for its principles had become vitiated and its interests destroyed. On the other hand, the new order of things widely disseminated its ideas, but failed either to blend them with what remained of the former system, or to cause its entire disappearance. These opposing elements hindered every effort, and the republic could move neither backward nor forward.

About this time a number of political clubs which wielded great influence began to be organized under the name and forms of masonic lodges of the York rite. Their creation has been ascribed to Poinsett, the ​American minister,[18] but the real founder was the clergyman, José María Alpuche, rector of a parish in Tabasco, and senator from that state.[19] To Poinsett was also attributed the formation of a plan to do away with the somewhat aristocratic character of the government, which was still influenced by the old families, the clergy, and the army, and of replacing it, not with a pure democracy, but by introducing a class of men who were merely ambitious office-hunters less respectably connected. Alaman has fathered on Poinsett this absurd charge. He would also have us believe that the president had been assured by members of the Scottish rite lodges that though they had opposed his candidacy, they cheerfully bowed to his authority, in which assurance he placed no faith.[20] In these Scottish lodges were affiliated Barragan, Negrete, Echávarri, Guerrero, Filisola, and other prominent generals and colonels, besides many regular and secular priests, and civilians of social and political standing. Several deputies and the minister Esteva had been officers of such lodges, and seceded to join the new societies. After the overthrow of Iturbide, due in a great measure to the action of the ancient rite lodges, it is true that many of their members forsook them to join the York lodges, but the escoceses still had for a time much influence with the government and congress. Later, however, the desertion became so general and simultaneous that some Scottish lodges held meetings with the object of placing themselves, ​with their archives, under the new order, leaving the Scottish sect or party with the assertion that they could no longer be affiliated in a society that wished to restore the monarchy. Gomez Pedraza retired from the old society without joining the new one, but said that the escoceses desired a foreign dynasty. Victoria, Esteva, and Alpuche at once saw that if a society bearing the name of federal could be formed, it would counteract the plans and labors of the escoceses.[21] The president wanted the support of such an organization, but did not foresee that the pretensions of a popular society knew no limit.[22] It is said that he had never been partial to secret societies, and particularly abhorred the logias escocesas, because of the men belonging to them, among whom was his rival Nicolás Bravo; and that he now lamented having patronized the logias yorkinas, as the government had been belittled by them. Some attempts were made in the congress, weakly supported by minister Espinosa, to prohibit secret societies; but nothing was then accomplished.[23] The two societies were now like two armies facing one another in battle array. Such was the origin of the yorkino lodges, or rather clubs,[24] whose sudden development and increased power soon awed their own authors, and whose subsequent divisions and disagreements gave a bloody victory to their foes the old At the elections, toward the end of 1826, the yorkinos were victorious in the federal district — the municipal authorities of which possessed great ​influence — in the state of Mexico, of which Lorenzo de Zavala was elected governor in March 1827, and in most of the states. The important state of Vera Cruz, however, went against them.[25] Both these societies were strongly represented in the press. During this period of Mexican history the number of periodicals greatly increased, and the people read them with interest. They were, however, with hardly an exception, devoted to politics.[26]

The year of 1827 was a painful one for Mexico. Among other troubles, to complicate matters and render the situation of the government still more perplexing, came news of the failure of Barclay and Company of London, in whose hands was a balance amounting to nearly $2,250,000 of the loan contracted with that house. In November congress authorized the government to borrow four millions, pledging the revenues from customs and tobacco, and an equal sum ​guaranteed by recognized assets. In these transactions the treasury suffered heavy losses. The secretary of the department thought to cover with the ordinary revenue the appropriations approved by congress for the following year, amounting to a little over fifteen and a half millions;[27] but he found it impossible, and the payments of the dividends on the foreign debt had to be suspended.[28]

Those who from the beginning of the independence had opposed the third clause of the plan of Iguala kept up the agitation against the Spaniards, all of whom were supposed to be accomplices of the Arenas plot, particulars of which will be narrated in the following chapter. The political parties took advantage of the situation to push their pretensions, one of them demanding the destruction of secret societies and the expulsion of Poinsett. In that party were affiliated Barragan and Santa Anna.

Esteva, after resigning the portfolio of the treasury in March 1827, was despatched as comisario general de hacienda to Vera Cruz, but the legislature of that state, composed chiefly of escoceses, refused to recognize him. Shortly before, on the 25th of June, Colonel Rincon had put the troops under arms, a proceeding which the escoceses severely condemned, and ​for which Rincon was arrested.[29] He effected his escape, however, took command of his battalion, and issued a proclamation to the effect that he would recognize no authority not emanating directly from the supreme federal powers.

Seconded by the artillery brigade, Rincon maintained himself upon the defensive, till finally the president ordered him to Tlaliscoyam, there to await further orders. The president also compelled several of the chief escoceses to remove to Jalapa; placed San Juan de Ulúa, which had been surrendered in 1825 to the Mexicans, in trusty hands; and in July Barragan, who was in command there, was superseded by Guerrero.[30]

The failure of their plans in Vera Cruz demoralized the escoceses, to the great joy of their opponents. The escoces party, which about the middle of 1827 had taken the name of novenarios, had spread in Vera Cruz, Puebla, and Guanajuato. Its members were not numerous, but among them figured several prominent political men, and not a few wealthy ones. The Spaniards belonged to it, and supported it in its work by contributions of money.[31] The society made a strenuous effort to recover its influence, proclaiming at Otumba on the 23d of December, 1827, the plan of Montaño, so called after an obscure lieutenant-colonel of the old insurgents, who was its figure-head, Nicolás Bravo, the grand master, being the real leader. The plan embraced four articles, namely: ​1. Suppression of secret societies; 2. Dismissal of the cabinet; 3. Dismissal of Poinsett, the American minister; 4. A strict fulfilment of the constitution and laws.[32] Under the existing circumstances and the well founded apprehension that the yorkinos would enact proscriptive measures against them, the novenarios were in a great measure justified for their own protection in demanding a change of ministry.[33] The plan was printed and circulated on the 30th of December, in the city of Mexico. The real authors soon became known; for on the next day Bravo and Berdejo and a number of colonels and other officers began to leave the capital. Gabriel Armijo in San Luis Potosí, and Barragan in Vera Cruz, accepted the plan. Teran, Hernandez, Moran, and Santa Anna were also said to have done so, but there is no evidence of the fact, though Moran certainly received the conspirators in his house. Sante Anna suddenly appeared in Huamantla; but it remains unexplained how a military officer came to find himself without leave from the governinent in a town so close to the centre of a rebellion.[34] No other name is more applicable to this movement, which had a general-in-chief, staff, treasury, and all other elements pertaining to an army. Bravo was the commander; and we now behold the strange spectacle of the vice-president of the republic, who was also a general of division, whose bounden duty it was to support the ​government, jeopardizing his position as well as his standing as an old patriot by heading an armed faction to demand the dismissal of the president's ministers, and the expulsion of the representative of a friendly and powerful nation. Bravo's popularity had been on the wane because of his intimate connection with a party including so many Spaniards among its members. He was undoubtedly actuated by generous impulses toward those whom his efforts had contributed to bring low. Still, his revolutionary course on this occasion was a serious error, and throws a blot upon his otherwise pure and honorable record. The minister of war displayed much energy. Guerrero started with forces almost as soon as Bravo, so that the latter had barely a fortnight for preparation before Guerrero was upon him. Bravo established his headquarters at Tulancingo, a town of ten or twelve thousand inhabitants, twenty-five leagues from the federal capital, in order to give his partisans in Mexico and elsewhere time to organize forces, distract the government's attention, and divide its resources. The rebel force under him was only 600 men. Tulancingo was assaulted on the 6th of January, 1828, by Guerrero with 1,500 men — not 3,000, as Zavala has it — and after a feeble resistance,[35] in which the number of casualties did not exceed twelve, all the chiefs of the rebellion on the spot were captured. Barragan and Armijo were also made prisoners somewhat later. They were all taken to Mexico, to be dealt with according to law.[36] The congress of Vera Cruz, which had adopted the plan de Montaño, was forced to make an honorable recantation.

​Bravo was impeached by the house of deputies. Pending the trials of himself and his fellow-prisoners, a motion for an amnesty was made in the senate, which produced a violent agitation among the yorkino state legislatures, most of which, as well as the ayuntamiento of Mexico city, demanded the execution of the rebels.[37] Congress took a middle course, the only possible one under the circumstances. It neither granted the amnesty asked for by the escoceses nor allowed the trials to proceed as the yorkinos required; and remitting the penalty of death which had been pronounced against some officers, decreed the expatriation of all; and to that end the prisoners were taken to Acapulco. Bravo and others in the following June went to Valparaiso and Guayaquil, whence the former transferred himself to Guatemala and the United States, losing by death on the voyage his only son[38]. The expatriated were later permitted to return to Mexico.

This heavy blow not only left the escoceses powerless, but eventually ruined the yorkino party. This faction, now master of the situation, might have done good service to the republic, correcting abuses, introducing improvements, and securing peace and tranquillity; but, unfortunately, to a great extent it was made up of ignorant, ambitious, and unscrupulous men, to whom the national welfare was of no consequence. Instead of trying to heal the wounds inflicted during the past troubles, they opened new ones. Dissension soon broke out among them, which ​paved the way for the overthrow and extinction of the party.

Victoria's term of office was approaching its end.[39] The most prominent candidates, now that Bravo and Barragan were in exile, were Gomez Pedraza and Guerrero. The former's popularity had been much enhanced by his energetic action and general efficiency. Both candidates having belonged to the same political party, much dissension arose among their friends. A portion of the escoceses, and the aristocrats who could not brook the idea of the low-born Guerrero aspiring to the highest office in the republic, supported his rival.[40] So did the Spaniards, which must be set down as a blunder on their part; for it imbittered the popular animosity toward them, and assisted to bring about the order for their expulsion.[41] The agitation was not confined to the contending parties; it also existed in both houses of congress. Intrigue was freely used by politicians, as well as calumny and insult by the press. A peaceable termination of the contest was impossible whichever side won the election. Victoria kept himself aloof from all complications, though his ministers favored Pedraza.[42] The latter won, eleven states voting for him against seven for his opponent. Only eighteen state legislatures had taken part in the election, being the only ones in session at the time. For vice-president the votes were given to Bustamante, Ignacio Godoy, and Melchor Muzquiz, and the first named eventually won.[43]

​Guerrero's partisans, anticipating defeat, had begun a revolution in the state of Vera Cruz, headed by Santa Anna, at Perote, on the ground that Pedraza had employed force, and taken advantage of his position to overrule public opinion.[44] This in the face of an order from the president to remove even the semblance of force, and of an assurance from the ministry that the public troops would not be used except to sustain the free action of the state. Gomez Pedraza had been constitutionally elected president, but the opposing party denied it, Guerrero making no effort to quiet the discord[45] The president resolved to uphold the constitution, and was seconded by the congress. Santa Anna and his followers were declared without the pale of the law if they did not lay down their arms.[46] That leader, having sustained a reverse, fled from Perote to Oajaca, pursued by the government forces, which closely besieged him on the 14th of November. His situation had become desperate, when the revolution of the ex-acordada in the federal capital on the 30th of that month saved him, the government having to recall its troops from Oajaca.

This new pronunciamiento was the work of Anastasio Zerecero, according to his own statement,[47] and Colonel Santiago García, commander of the Tres ​Villas, headed it with his battalion. They were seconded by Governor Zavala and General Lobato;[48] Guerrero himself demanding a change of the minisistry, in order that the congress might freely decide the presidency question. Zavala had been hovering for some days near the capital with an armed force, though without committing hostile acts, and entered it undetected. The rebels occupied the ex-acordada building and the citadel.[49] The troops sent against them were under Colonel Inclan. On the morning of December 2, 1828, hostilities began, and the fight lasted till mid-day of the 4th, when the revolt triumphed. Then pillage was the order of the day. The léperos, taking advantage of the situation, raising the old cry of "Mueran los Españoles!" rushed to the Parian, where were the stores of the Spanish merchants, broke open the doors, and sacked it. In a short time over $2,000,000 worth of property was carried off, and upward of 1,000 industrious persons were reduced to want. Many other commercial buildings were pillaged.[50] Victoria in vain attempted to arrest the outrages by going in person to the ex-acordada building, and pleading with the leaders. Meanwhile Pedraza secretly fled to Guadalajara, where he ​lived for some time in concealment. On the 2d of March, 1829, he embarked at Tampico for London, having previously resigned his right to the presidency.[51] The result of this victory was that the congress, which assembled on the 1st of January, 1829, annulled the election of Gomez Pedraza, and chose Guerrero as the second president, Anastasio Bustamante being appointed vice-president. Thus was the national constitution rent, and the door opened for future excesses.

The retiring president had hoped to weather the storm, and recover his lost authority by the appointment of Guerrero as minister of war.[52] The latter part of his administration was indeed stormy, and he seems to have become bewildered, an evidence of which is the step he took in going to the ex-acordada building to parley with rebels.

The country felt the shock of the lawless acts of the mob at the capital. But the yorkinos looked at the matter in a different light, claiming that a new era of peace, prosperity, and happiness had been secured for Mexico.

Victoria's term ended on the 1st of April, 1829, and he retired from office, never again to appear in public life except in an inferior role.[53] It must be said in his favor that though he was often influenced by favorites, he never was false to his principles. During his rule were founded the order of the Águila Negra, and the York rite lodges, the former by a Bethlehemite friar named Simon Cruz, whom Victoria banished to Yucatan, where he died. In the organization of the lodges Victoria really took but little ​action, and yet he has been accused of lending much protection.[54]

Victoria retired to the hacienda El Jobo, which was wrongly supposed to be his own property. In the last four years of his life he repeatedly had epileptic attacks. At Tlapacoyam, in 1842, his sufferings, both on account of his country's troubles and of disease, were so great that for a change of climate he went in the latter part of the year to Teziutlan, and in February 1843 to Perote, where he expired on the 21st of March, his death being caused by enlargement of the heart. The body was embalmed and deposited in a vault in the chapel of the fortress, whence it was taken to Puebla in 1862. Santa Anna, when president, decreed[55] that Victoria's name should be inscribed in letters of gold in the chamber of deputies, and that a monument should be erected at the national expense for the patriot's remains in Santa Paula; but it seems that it was never done.[56]

  1. ↑ La independencia so afianzará con mi sangre, y la libertad se perderá con mi vida. Gaz. de Mex., 1824, iv. 225-7; Mex. Col. Leyes, Órd, y Dec., iii. 107-9; Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., MS., viii. 270; Id., Voz de la Patria, ii. no. 5, 4-5. A portrait of Victoria in oil hangs in the Colegio de San Ildefonso of Mexico, of which he had been an alumnus. Alaman, Hist. Mej., v. 811, 958.
  2. ↑ In campaigning he fared as his men did. It is related that once he was extremely ill with fever, and was conveyed on a bed into the battle-field. As soon as he descried the enemy, he had himself mounted on a horse and rushed into the skirmish. In the heat of it the crisis of the fever took place, and he returned well to his division. Abispa de Chilpancingo, 284-5.
  3. ↑ He has been credited with only mediocre talents, and accused of indolence, and of relying too much on his own judgment. Bustamante, Voz de la Patria, ii. no. 23, 1. Alaman makes a statement, as received from Iturbide's secretary, Manso, that when Victoria visited that chief at San Juan del Rio he proposed in writing that the plan should be changed, and an unpardoned insurgent — as if suggesting himself — should be called to the throne and married to an Indian female of Guatemala, to make of the two countries a single nation. He claims that the paper in question, as he and Bustamante were told by Manso, was filed in the department of relations. Hist. Méj., v. 220. How is it, I would ask, that Alaman and Bustamante, who had access to that department, and were no friends of Victoria, at least as a ruler, did not produce a copy of the document? The story looks like one of Alaman's exhibitions of spite against his former chief. Of Bustamante I must say, however, that though not friendly to Victoria's administration, he gives him the highest commendation for military services, purity of character, modesty, and generally for civic virtues. Cuad. Hist., iv. 175-6.
  4. ↑ A type of Plutarch's republicans,' says Gen. J. M. Tornel, himself an able man and an honorable citizen, who served under Victoria, near to his person. Breve Reseña Hist., 24-5.
  5. ↑ After he had filled the highest offices, and had every possible facility for peculation. Payno, Cuentas, Gastos, 599-600; Thompson's Recoll. Mex., 60.
  6. ↑ Warmly congratulated from all quarters, and by none more than Vicente Guerrero, whose ill health prevented his attending the inauguration. Gaz. de Mex., 1824, no. 53 et seq.; no. 66, 322-4.
  7. ↑ Act of Dec. 23, 1824. Mex. Col. Leyes, Órd. y Dec., iii. 162-3. These powers were in force till repealed in May 1826. Rivera, Gob. de Mex., ii. 125; for all that, after the latter date, the government, on a false accusation, had the liberal writer Marchese de Santangelo taken by force to Vera Cruz, and sent out of the country. In Vera Cruz his son, 18 years of age, died of yellow fever before his eyes. Zavala, Revol. Mex., i. 358-9; El Amigo del Pueblo, ii. 139; Bustamante, Voz de la Patria, ii. no. 14, 5-6.
  8. ↑ 'Para guardar la tranquilidad y hacer respetar las leyes en sus respectivos territorios. Suarez y Navarro, Hist. Mex., 75.
  9. ↑ Bustamante, who must have his shot at Victoria, says that the president ·blundered in granting those pardons: 'empezó á hacer sus alcaldadas, como la de dejar impunes á Bustamante y Quintanar por las fechorías qé hicieron en Guadalaxara.' Cuad. Hist., MS., viii. 262; Id., Hist. Iturbide, 242, 270.
  10. ↑ The first cabinet was constituted as follows, and held office during the terms appended to the respective names: Minister of relations, interior and foreign: Juan Guzman, chief clerk, Oct. 10, 1824, to Jan. 11, 1823; Lúcas Alaman, Jan. 12, 1825, to Sept. 26, 1825; justice, Pablo de la Llave, Oct. 10, 1824, to Nov. 29, 1825; treasury, José Ignacio Esteva, Oct. 10, 1824, to Sept. 26, 1825; war, Manuel de Mier y Teran, Oct. 10, 1824, to Dec. 18, 1825.
  11. ↑ Dominguez was a native of Guanajuato, and had been 'corregidor de letras ' of Querétaro, an office that brought on him much trouble, as has been recorded in the early history of the Mexican revolution. He was a learned and upright man, and a good statesman. His death occurred April 22, 1830. Bustamante, Voz de la Patria, ii, no. 25, 6-7.
  12. ↑ The president of the republic and his ministers were present at the opening, and mutual congratulations passed between the executive and the congress. Id., ii. no. 6, 1-2; Mex. Col. Leyes, Órd. y Dec., iii. 138, 163; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, ii. 369.
  13. ↑ Alaman, Hist. Mej., v. 815, though disapproving the federal system which that congress established, speaks of it in eulogistic terms.
  14. ↑ Pedraza was in bad odor with the centralists, because of his friendship for Iturbide. Victoria adopted the policy of having in his cabinet men of both parties. Zavala, Revol. Mex., i. 341.
  15. ↑ In 1830 he acted as plenipotentiary to conclude treaties with Chile. In 1831 he was made dean of Puebla. The following year he labored for the peace of the republic, and was again minister of state till Nov. 1833. In 1841 he was elected from Saltillo to the constituent congress. Failing to bring public affairs to a satisfactory condition, he became despondent, and in March 1842, had an apoplectic fit, which paralyzed an arm and a leg. He became affected with gangrene in April of the following year, and died on the 23th of that month at the age of 68 years. Arizpe was a great man, an excellent clergyman and pastor, wise, just, charitable, humble. In his last years, says Tornel, he was a liberal without exaggeration, and very pious; but hypocrisy was no part of his nature. Breve Reseña Hist., 36-7; Bustamante, Hist. Santa Anna, 142-3; Dicc. Univ. Hist. Geog., vi. 548-53; Arroniz, Biog. Mex., 272.
  16. ↑ According to his own statement. Hist. Méj., v. 822.
  17. ↑ Alaman says that Espinosa was much esteemed by Victoria, notwithstanding his pernicious counsels to Iturbide, adding that those which he gave later to Victoria himself were equally so. Ib. Zavala, Revol. Mex., i. 341-4, confirms this statement.
  18. ↑ Zavala pronounces it a pure invention of the aristocrats, and of some European agents who meddled with Mexican affairs much more than Poinsett ever did. After five lodges had been organized Poinsett was requested to procure a charter. This step, and the installation of the grand lodge, was all the part that Poinsett took in the matter. That author declares, besides, that he, Zavala, was invited to join a lodge, and did so without any political design. Revol. Mex., i. 346.
  19. ↑ He is represented as a restless spirit, a sort of Danton, without his brains. In the senate he worried the ministry with questions and bitter reproaches. To his political opponents he gave no rest, and they, in their turn, gave him a bad character. His death was sudden. Tornel, Breve Reseña list., 308-9; Alpuche, Rasgo Hist., in Pap. Sueltos, no. xi.
  20. ↑ For information on origin, political principles, and action of the escoces party, from 1813 to 1826, see Mora, Pap. Sueltos, i. pp. xii.-xiv.
  21. ↑ The York lodges were given attractive names, such as Independencia, Federalista, India Azteca, etc.
  22. ↑ Copious information in Cor. Fed. Mex., 1826, Nov. 1st and Dec. 4th; Gomez Pedraza, Manif., 32-3; Monteros, Esp. de los Inf. Masones; Bustamante, Voz de la Patria, ii. no. 15, 8; Mex. Informe Prim. Sac., 22, 23; Paz, Doloroso Rec. Aztecas, 4-5; Mora, Obras Sueltas, i. xiv. xvi.; Suarez y Navarro, Hist. Méj., 10.
  23. ↑ The two parties had become too strong, and later brought on two disastrous revolutions. Tornel, Breve Reseña Hist., 45-8. xxx 1823, the pope had issued a bull against freemasonry. It was published in Mexico toward the end of 1828. Masones, Bula de Ntro Smo Padre Leon XII., 1-34.
  24. ↑ Minister Esteva was the grand master, and Arizpe master of one of the lodges. General Bravo was grand master of the logias escocesas.
  25. ↑ Also a few of the less influential. Bustamante, Voz de la Patria, ii. no. 15, 4; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, ii. 400–1; Id., Gob. de Mex., ii. 126;Masones y Elecc., 1-8.
  26. ↑ In Yucatan were issued the Yucateco and another; in Vera Cruz, the Mercurio, whose editor, Ramon Ceruti, a Spanish emigrant, was a stout champion of popular rights, and the Veracruzano Libre; in Jalapa, the Oriente, established by Sebastian Camacho, and continued under his direction after he became a minister of state; in Mexico, El Sol, the organ of the escoces party, supposed to have among its chief contributors Lúcas Alaman and other able politicians well versed in national affairs; El Águila Mexicana, the organ of the Iturbidists, more popular than El Sol, which gradually lost ground, and it may be said was sustained only by the great ability of its writers. The yorkinos established the Correo de la Federacion, whose contributors were Lorenzo de Zavala, and all the men of the party that could and were inclined to write. It was their organ till 1829. Though lacking in plan, this paper struck El Sol some severe blows. These papers excited the passions of their respective supporters, but violated the laws of decency and the respect due to society much less than some newspapers of the present day. The escoceses, pretending to respectability, also published El Observador, and the yorkinos later brought out in opposition to it El Amigo del Pueblo. The former was noted for its incisive logic; the latter for its more popular and independent ideas, and for its marked American principles. These two papers were types of the political exaggerations of that period, which were but the preliminaries of a civil war. And yet there was in the midst of all a generous idea — that of the country's welfare as each party understood it. For all that, the abuse of the liberty allowed the press had a baneful effect.

    There were periodicals also in Guadalajara, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Oajaca, Valladolid, and a little later in Durango, Sonora, and even in the most distant and smallest places. Tornel, Breve Reseña Hist., 80-1; Zavala, Revol. Mex., i. 355-6; Pedraza, Manif., 34-5.

  27. ↑ Alaman, Hist. Méj., v. 834-5.
  28. ↑ The secretary of the treasury, Esteva, had resigned March 4, 1827, and was succeeded by Tomás Salgado, who on the 1st of Nov. surrendered the office to Francisco García, who held it only one month. The department then was placed ad interim in charge of the chief clerk José Ignacio Pavon till the 7th of March, 1828, when José Ignacio Esteva resumed control as minister, and held it till Jan. 12, 1829, when he resigned, and was replaced the next day by Bernardo Gonzalez Angulo, in whose charge the office remained till the end of Victoria's administration. During these years changes occurred also in other departments. In that of relations, Juan José Espinosa de los Monteros was minister to March 1828; Juan de Dios Cañedo, from March 8, 1828, to Jan. 25, 1829; and José María Bocanegra, from Jan. 26 to April 1, 1829. In that of justice, Espinosa de los Monteros succeeded Arizpe, from March 8, 1828, to March 31, 1829. In that of war, with the exception of the period from Feb. 10 to March 3, 1827, when Manuel Rincon held it temporarıly, Pedraza retained it till Dec. 3, 1828, when his connection with it ceased. José Castro, chief clerk, held it to Dec. 7th; Vicente Guerrero from Dec. 8 to 25, 1828; Francisco Moctezuma from Dec. 26, 1828, to April 1, 1829. Mex. Mem. Hacienda, 1870, 1027-8; Cor. Fed. Mex., 1827, Feb. 8 and 14; Gaz. de Mex., 1827, Feb. 3, 13, and March 8; La Palanca, 1827, Aug. 9; Arrillaga, Recop., 1828, 200.
  29. ↑ A riot occurred, during which the yorkinos in arms destroyed the press of their rivals, who were supported by the governor and General Barragan.
  30. ↑ The name novenarios was assumed because each member of the grand consistory had to catechise nine men and bring them into the society; each of these nine had to procure nine others, and so on, thus multiplying themsclves ad infinitum. The members of the escoces party also bore the names of hombres de bien, chaquetas, borbonistas, aristócratas, defensores de la constitucion. Atleta, 1830, Apr. 15, 467.
  31. ↑ Guerrero remained there a short time, during which Esteva assumed his office. Cor. Fed. Mex., 1827, Ap. 27 to Nov. 24; Bustamante, Voz de la Patria, ii. nos 21, 22, 25, and 26; Zavala, Revol. Mex., ii. 21-4; V. Cruz, Contestac. Guerr. 3-16; El Atleta, 1830, Ap. 16, 476; El Observador Rep. Mex., i. 36-8, 314-16, ii. 77-100; El Amigo del Pueblo, i. 13-15, ii. 200, ii. 19, 69; V. Cruz, Manif. Cong., 11-23; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, ii. 425-39.
  32. ↑ Pedraza, the minister of war, had been in June accused of malefeasance, probably with good reason in some cases, but he had successfully defended himself. Cor. Fed. Mex., 1827, Aug. 6, 7; La Palanca, 1827, Aug. 9-30; Mora, Obras Sueltas, ii. 244-7, 280-1.
  33. ↑ Suarez y Navarro finds the justification in Pedraza's own statements. Hist. Méx., 89-97.
  34. ↑ Tornel, Breve Reseña Hist., 198; Alaman, Hist. Méj., v. 836-7. Tornel says that Santa Anna was always hostile to secret societies; but Alaman positively asserts that he saw the diploma of high office in a Scottish rite lodge issued to him in Yucatan. Santa Anna had been removed from his command in that locality for meditating a sudden dash with 500 men upon the Cabaña fortress of Habana. He was vice-governor of Vera Cruz when he went to Huamantla. It was believed by the escoceses, and appearances justified the impression, that he went there to join Bravo, but on seeing the superiority of the government forces he tendered his services to their commander, which were accepted, but not till he had been reproved for his suspicious actions.
  35. ↑ Bravo and the escoceses claimed afterward that Guerrero violated an armistice of eight hours for conferences. Guerrero's friends allege the contrary. Alaman, Hist. Méj., v. 837; Facio, Mem., 203-4. The documents on this point are insufficient to clear it up. Tornel, Breve Reseña Hist., 200-1.
  36. ↑ Alaman alleges that he saw the communication signed by Guerrero as grand master and Col. Mejía as secretary of the yorkino grand lodge, to the lodges in the United States, wherein he detailed the triumph, not as that of the government against rebels, but as that of one masonic sect against its rival. Hist. Méj., v. 837.
  37. ↑ Tornel gives most of the representations and other particulars touching the rebellion, trials, etc., in Breve Reseña Hist., 93-97, 166-265.
  38. ↑ The following authorities have also been examined in connection with the novenarios and their rebellion: Bustamante, Voz de la Patria, ii. nos 17-34, iii. no. 18, iv. supl. no. 4; Mex. Col. Leyes, 1829-30, 151; Mex. Mem., 1828, 2-4, 14-16; Decretos y Órd., Puebla, 152-3; Cor. Fed. Mex., 1827, Feb. 6 to Dec. 30; 1828, Jan. 1 to April 9; Barragan, Prision: Bravo, Exped. Instruct., 1-52; Id., Exposicion, 1-7; Gac. de Mex., 1827, Jan. 4, May, 26; El Amigo del Pueblo, ii. 97-108, 159, 200, iii. 69, 97-104, 149-60, 307-18; El Observador Rep. Mex., i. 343-6, ii. 100-2, 161-252, iii. 145-74; Corres. Seman., i. 217-19, 285-8; La Palanca, 1827, Jan. 4; 1828, Jan. 3, 21, 24, 31; Id., iii. 64-70, pt 2, no. 2, 6-8; Cuevas, Porvenir Mex., 419-52; Arrangoiz, Méj., ii. 175-85; Martinez, Hist. Revol., i. 145; and many others.
  39. ↑ The choice of the next president and vice-president by the state legislatures was to take place on the 1st of Sept., 1828.
  40. ↑ His supporters called themselves the 'partido de los imparciales,' made up of federalists, yorkinos friendly to Pedraza, and escoceses hating Guerrero. Rivera, Gob. de Méx., ii. 165.
  41. ↑ In the latter part of March 1829, a law was enacted expelling from the country all natives of Spain or of the Spanish dominions save Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines, with only few exceptions. The law was enforced in the fęderal district and elsewhere in the strictest manner. Zavala, Revol. Mex., ii.
  42. ↑ Zavala, governor of Mexico, and Santa Anna, of Vera Cruz, were in favor of Guerrero.
  43. ↑ Mexico, however, voted for Guerrero and Zavala. Zavala, Revol. Mex., ii. 58–72, 76, 144; Cor. Fed. Mex., 1827, July 17 to Sept. 3; Arrillaga, Recop., 1830, 102; Tornel, Breve Reseña Hist., 101. Godoy was the superior in intellect. Muzquiz had rendered good service for Mexican freedom while Bustamante was still serving in the royalist ranks, but the latter having joined the yorkinos, the odium of his past record was thus wiped out. Guerrero had, it appears, recommended him.
  44. ↑ In Vera Cruz Governor Santa Anna and the ayuntamiento of Jalapa had been impeached before the legislature and suspended. Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, ii. 483-92. The privileged and wealthy were frantic in Pedraza's interest. Every bishop, chapter, vicar, etc., addressed pastoral letters to the people to stop the progress of the revolution. Most of the printed documents of that time were pastoral letters. Suarez y Navarro, Hist. Mex., 134.
  45. ↑ Revolutionary movements also took place in Michoacan, Costa Chica, and elsewhere. Robberies and murders became quite common in town and country. Cor. Fed. Mex., 1828, July 8, 17, 19; La Palanca, iii. no. 85.
  46. ↑ Sept. 17th. This outlawry was revoked March 17, 1829. Dublan and Lozano, Legis. Mex., ii. 79-80, 97-8.
  47. ↑ He afterward regretted it. 'Esta revolucion ó pronunciamiento lo combinó, dirigió, y llevó á cabo, el autor de estas memorias. Hizo muy mal, lo confiesa ante Dios y los hombres.' Zerecero, Revol. Mex. . 109.
  48. ↑ Lobato, after this revolution, was sent by the government to Guadalajara as comandante general, and died there early in 1829. He was of humble origin, and rose under favor of the revolution for independence; served in the first revolution, and was pardoned. He was, however, one of the first to join Iturbide in 1821. An ignorant man of small intellect, but a good soldier under an able chief, and faithful. Zavala, Revol. Mex., ii. 142.
  49. ↑ See plan of the city of Mexico, this volume.
  50. ↑ This was not foreseen. General Lobato, who was in command, Colonel García having been mortally wounded on the 3d, went to the Parian to stop the robberies, leaving Zavala in charge of the ex-acordada. At this moment Lieut-col. Vicente Gonzalez, an old soldier of the independence, who had been serving with the government force, was captured and brought to the exacordada. The enraged mob demanded his life. Zavala acceded, and Gonzalez was shot. Zerecero, Revol. Mex., 109-10. The episode, a blot on Zavala's fame, is also mentioned by Tornel and Bustamante, who add that Zavala dil likewise, out of personal revenge, shoot with a pistol Judge Juan de Raz y Guzman in the arm, and would have done the same with Senator Vargas had he been able to find him on that day. Victoria reproached Zavala for killing Gonzalez. Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., MS., viii. 245. Zavala himself, in Revol. Mer., ii. 220 et seq., mentions the wounding of Raz in his own house 'á deshoras de la noche, y quizás creido de que Žavala haya tenido parte en su desgracia.' Raz did Zavala a good service in December 1829.
  51. ↑ Suarez y Nararro, Hist. Méx., 130.
  52. ↑ Guerrero held that office only a few days and resigned it, that he might not be suspected of looking after his personal interests. He was then given the command of the forces in Puebla, Oajaca, and Vera Cruz. Id., 131.
  53. ↑ He was governor of Puebla, which position he resigned to become a senator for Durango, his native state. In March 1839 he served as one of the two Mexican plenipotentiaries to negotiate a treaty of peace with France. Blanchard and Dauzats, San Juan de Ulúa, 493-4.
  54. ↑ His inveterate contemner, Bustamante, attributes to his errors all the subsequent revolutions and miseries of Mexico.
  55. ↑ Dublan and Lozano, Legis. Mex., iv. 412.
  56. ↑ Breve Reseña Histórica de los Acontecimientos mas notables de la Nacion Mexicana, Mex., 1852. 8vo. 424 pp. The author, José María Tornel y Mendívil, was governor of the state of Mexico in 1828, and previously private secretary of President Victoria. He had intended to give a full history of Mexico from the date of the independence down to 1852, but death suddenly overtook him when he had only written the events to 1828 inclusive, thus leaving his work a fragment; in fact, nothing but a rapid improvisation, though as far as it goes very useful. The eventful year 1828 is fully treated, and a review of occurrences in general from the beginning of the war of independence is also given. He mostly narrates his own observations in a clear and elegant style, quoting a little from other authorities. His work was first given to the public in the columns of the Ilustracion newspaper. Lúcas Alaman took advantage of it to correct or amplify some facts — of which Tornel was better informed than any one else could be — but repeatedly disagrees with him in qualifying them.
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