Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/561

APP EN DIX. 521 «;ountr7 of the raost dangerous of these traitors, — and, by so doing, de- ranged the schemes of the disaifected, — intimidated secret enemies, and strengthened the hands of the Government, if I had been able to act with freedom or energy. But t'le n;cfss-tyof cm^or ni igto tie la-.'s which the Constitution had established, in order not too openly to set at defiance the will of the Mother-country, communicated always in the august name of the King our Master, compelled me to trust to the slow, and, under present circumstances, insidious course of a judicial inquiry, confided often to judges but little less criminal than the accused them- selves, without deriving from the measure any other fruit than a confir- mation of my suspicions, that the Government was undermined, without any possibility of avoiding the explosion. In such a situation as this, no resource remains but to re-animate the authority of the Government, and to make a last effort to conclude the war, by crushing the rebellion at once. The re-establishment of the old laws will no longer suflSce : There was a time when they were suffi- cient to keep up the ancient illusions of these people with regard to their chiefs and magistrates, and to inspire them with a proper respect for their measures and decrees: But now, — decried, discredited, and even turned into ridicule, by the new system, — stigmatized as arbitrary and unjust, — attributed to an illegal origin, and held up to the scorn of the crowd, — they have lost their prestige, and even their respectability, and are no longer capable of reducing a people which has thrown off the yoke, or of communicating to them an impulse sufficiently powerful to compel them to return within the bounds of duty. When once this is effected, they may be governed again by the old Code, or by any other that his Majesty may think fit to adopt for his dominions of Ultramar. But, at present, I see no other remedy for countries actually a prey to rebellion, than the establishment of martial law, until such time as the extermination of the disaffected, and the reduction of the rest of the inhabitants to order and obedience, entitle them again to enjoy the ge- neral laws of the monai'chy, and the protecting goodness of the most worthy of Monarchs. But as the efficiency of this heroic remedy depends principally upon its being supported by a sufficient force, it is absolutely indispensable that from six to eight thousand soldiers should be immediately sent over, as they must be, at all events, in order to avoid the loss of these do- minions. It is true, that this number of troops is not sufficient to complete the work ; but if, in addition to them, arms and clothing were transmitted for twelve or fifteen thousand infantry, and six or eight thousand ca- valry, I would fill the ranks with men of the country, which would not be a difficult task, as soon as a few examples of severity have struck terror into the minds of the disaffected, and counteracted, or entirely destroyed the pernicious influence of the Corporations.