Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/555

APPENDIX. 515 countries, seems to have had no other object than to precipitate their ruin ; and as the Insurgents here are in continual and close communica- tion with their Deputies in the Peninsula, they receive information of every decree relative to America, and claim its immediate observance, in terms which have not even left me the option of suspending the execu- tion of those which I regarded as most prejudicial. In this singular, and most embarrassing situation, I had no means of saving my honour but by giving in my resignation, which I have fre- quently tendered : nor can I account for its not having been accepted, since I was not only known to be disaffected to the principles of the Con- stitution, but, in spite of express and repeated orders actually suspended, and refused to execute some of its provisions, which I saw must produce a positive dissolution of all government in this country. Such was my conduct with regard to the liberty of the press, the ap- pointment of the Jueces de Letras, the maintenance of a body destined to watch over the public security in the interior of the capital ; and the declaration, that the authority of the Viceroy was superior to that of the Political Chiefs, and the Deputations of the several Provinces. In the course of the two months, during which the liberty of the press was established under my immediate predecessor, it caused so general an irritation in the public mind, and produced such an extraordinary num- ber of seditious, incendiary, and insulting papers, that an insurrection was on the point of breaking out in this Capital ; the violence of the mob being first displayed on the celebration of the election of the new Municipality, which was, in fact, the first triumph of the rebels. On this occasion, the populace was infuriated by treasonable addresses, and led on by the example of a number of disaffected, who mingled with the crowd. The streets were filled with bands of men, who, at nightfall, carried lighted torches. There were Vivas in favour of Morelos, Inde- pendence, and the new Electors, all Americans, all men whose fidelity was suspected, and many of them positive rebels ! Death was denounced against the Europeans, and their Government. The doors of the cathedral were forced, and the mob had even the insolence to present itself before the palace, and to demand the artillery. The liberty of the press was suppressed in consequence of this event ; and I refused to re-establish it, notwithstanding a second order from the Regency, directing me to carry the Constitutional law into effect, in spite of what had taken place. The appointment of Jueces de Letras was likewise carried into effect against the express stipulations of a law, which reserved this faculty to the Regency. Had I not done this, the administration of justice, in a town of 150,000 inhabitants, would have been entrusted to two Constitu- tional Alcaldes, Civilians, and notoriously addicted to the Independent party. — By a necessary consequence, crimes would have remained un- punished, and the good exposed to the risk of falling victims to a conspi- racy ; and although the measure was disapproved of by the Ayunta-