Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/550

510 APPENDIX. and invoke the Constitution in order the better to destroy it, and their country together ; let them endeavour, in fine, to ruin this tribunal, by undermining the credit of its members ; still the Audiencia, firm alike in its loyalty and its principles, must state, with all respect to your Ma- jesty, that, it being impossible to carry the Constitution into effect, in the midst of a permanent conspiracy, which is sapping the very founda- tions of the State, it appears to them absolutely necessary to suspend it as long as such a state of revolution and disorder continues. 255. — The sacrifice will be momentary : the return, the salvation of the present, and the felicity of future generations. 262. — The contest which the Viceroy is forced to sustain, compels him to exercise absolute authority in many parts of the kingdom. To invest him with powers to do so legally in all, would at once enable him to act with proper decision, as circumstances might require, and put an end to aU uncertainty and murmurs. This, and a recommendation to carry into execution, as soon as possible, the Constitution, — ^but simultane- ously, and in all its parts, — would put an end to a political chaos, the confusion of which is infinitely worse than the want of any rule at all. 263 In this case the just and prudent observance of the law, which authorizes the Viceroy " to banish from the dominions of Ultramar those whose residence there might be injurious either to the service of God, or to the public peace and tranquillity,' — would save those rivers of Spanish blood, which are now flowing throughout New Spain. 269. ^ — There is certainly no other mode of preserving the State from its approaching ruin. Unfortunate indeed will be the country, and this tribunal, should it have failed, in the opinion of the Cortes, in establish- ing the necessity of the measures proposed upon solid grounds. The unavoidable abuse of a Constitution, perfect in itself, will hasten the progress of this country towards Independence, which is not only the object, but the decided wUl of the majority of the inhabitants; and it will be in vain to oppose to this furious torrent the wishes of the real patriots, since we have to deal with men who will only submit to posi- tive physical superiority : in the mean time, one excess leads, by a necessary consequence, to others, and confusion is now nearly at its height. 270. — Such, Sire, is a true picture of the state of affairs in New Spain : the decision of your Majesty will determine whether it is, or is not, any longer to exist as a country. (Signed) Mexico, ISth Nov. 1813. Thomas Gonzalez Calderon, Josi Mexia, Miguel Bataller, Manuel del ^ Canpo y Ri"as J"ar A"toiio de la Ri-a, Miguel Modet, Pedro de