Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/232

194 MEXICO. blindly those whom they were accustomed to obey ; and the severities which they exercised upon their Creole country- men, and which were retaliated upon themselves whenever the fortune of the field allowed of it, left but little opportu- nity for any approximation of opinions. But when the heat of the contest had subsided, things assumed a very different aspect : crowds of Insurgents, who had accepted the in- dulto, were allowed to mingle with the troops, and many were even admitted as recruits into the Creole regiments : each of these men formed proselytes amongst his comrades, while the officers were attacked, not merely by argument, but by all the seductions of the female sex, who have been, tliroughout America, the warmest advocates of Indepen- dence. They were taught that it was to them that their country looked for freedom ; that they alone had prevented its attainment at a much earlier period ; and that it was their duty to repair an error, which a mistaken notion of honour had induced them to commit. A feeling of this nature was gaining ground when the re- establishment of the Constitution in Spain, by the very army that was destined to rivet the chains of America, gave to the partisans of the Independent cause an additional advantage. Although the liberty of the press was not established, still freedom of communication could not be prevented. The events of 1812 seemed to be repeated ; the elections threw the minds of the people again into a ferment, which, from the restricted powers of the Viceroy, it was impossible to allay ; and, in addition to this, the Old Spaniards were divided amongst themselves. Many were sincere Constitutionalists, while others were as sincerely attached to the old system. In Mexico, as in the Mother country, these parties broke out into open hostility. The A'^iceroy Apodaca, who probably thought que c'etoit son metier a lui (Vetre ro^aliste, although he took the oath to the Constitution, lost no opportunity of favouring the party opposed to it; and took advantage of