Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/214

176 MEXICO. ed by the general detestation in which his name is held, to this day, by his countrymen : yet, under his auspices, existed the only shadow of a government, that was still kept up by the Insurgents. It was termed the Junta of JauxHla, from a little fort, in the centre of a marsh, in the Province of Val- ladolid, which was its usual residence ; but it possessed little influence, and no authority, being composed entirely of crea- tures of the Padre Torres. The country was, however, still overrun by parties of Insurgent cavalry, and Torres was in possession of three fortified places ; (Los Remedies, JauxTlla, and Sombrero,) but, with the exception of Guerrero's corps, with which, from the Eastern coast, no junction could pos- sibly be effected, there was no force bearing a respectable character collected upon any one point. The armies of Hidalgo and Morelos were reduced to mere predatory bands ; while the Royalist forces, increased by successive reinforce- ments from the Peninsula, were in possession of. all the towns, and of most of the military stations, calculated to maintain a communication between them. Still there was a feeling in the country so decidedly in favour of the Independent cause, — a feeling so strong, so uni- versal, (as was proved four years later,) that had Mina suc- ceeded in awakening it, his success would have been almost certain ; but he struck the wrong chord. He was a Spaniard, and, very naturally, did not forget the land of his birth, nor wish to deprive it of the most precious jewel in its crown. Constitutional liberty therefore, or, in other words, such liberty as the Mexicans could hope to enjoy under the Con- stitution of 1812, without an absolute separation from the Mother country, was what he sought to establish in Mexico. He did not indeed ])roclaim this, but he proclaimed nothing else ; and the uncertainty of the Creoles with regard to his intentions was increased by the confidence shown in them by many of his own countrymen, (particularly the merchants of Veracruz,) who wished for the re-establishment of the con-