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MEXICO. 205 only to have become more implacable. The Emperor de- manded privileges inconsistent with any balance of power ; — a Veto upon all the articles of the Constitution then under discussion, and the right of appointing and removing, at pleasure, the members of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. He recommended, likewise, the establishment of a Military Tribunal in the Capital, with powers but little inferior to those exercised by the Spanish Commandants during the Re- volution; and when these proposals were rejected, (as they were Avith great firmness, by the Congress,) he arrested, on the night of the 26th August, 1822, fourteen of the Depu- ties, who had advocated, during the discussion, principles but little in unison with the views of the Government. This bold measure was followed by a series of reclamations and remonstrances on the part of the Congress, which pro- duced no other effect than that of widening the breach between the Emperor and the National Assembly, until, at last, it became evident that the two could not exist together. Itur- bide terminated the dispute, as Cromwell had done, under similar circumstances, before him, by sending an officer to the Hall of Congress, with a simple notification that the As- sembly had ceased to exist, and an order to dissolve it by force, should any attempt at resistance be made. But no compulsion was required : the Deputies, many of whom were prepared beforehand for what was about to occur, dissolved their sessions at once, and the doors of the edifice in which they met, were closed by the officer whom Iturbide had com- missioned to make known to them his will. This took place on the 30th October, 1822, and, on the same day, a new Legislative Assembly was created by the Emperor, called the Instituent Junta, and consisting of forty- five members, selected by Iturbide himself, from amongst those whom he had found most inclined to comply with his wishes in the preceding Congress. This body never possessed any sort of influence in the