mally elected deputies declined going to Spain in the expectation that some new order would exclude them from the córtes on their arrival.
Such treatment of the colonies did not tend to promote more loyal feelings toward the mother country, [1] in spite of the regency's proclamation that Spanish Americans were raised to the dignity of free men, and the extraordinary admission that hitherto they had been crushed by an oppressive yoke, regarded without consideration, and made the victims of avarice. [2] Eventually on the 24th of September, 1810, without waiting for the arrival of the American deputies, the córtes were installed in the theatre of the island of Leon, and in the list of members I find New Spain represented by seven substitutes. [3] But it is time to consider how affairs were progressing meanwhile in that country, and narrate the events which immediately preceded the revolution of independence.
Great as had been the sums of money contributed by the inhabitants of New Spain in the form of loans and donations for the support of the mother country, they seemed only to encourage further demands. On the 12th of March, 1809, the junta central issued a royal cédula for the negotiation of a loan
- ↑ Guerra, Hist. Rev. N. Esp., ii. 640. The regency had been stimulated to action by the representations of some provincial juntas which had assembled in Cádiz; and on the 18th of June a decree was issued to hasten the appointment of deputies, who were to meet in the island of Leon during the month of August, and hold sessions as soon as a sufficient number had assembled. Those provinces of Spain which were occupied by the French were represented by substitutes selected from natives of such districts resident in Cádiz, while 28 substitutes for the deputies of American and Asiatic colonies who could not arrive in time were also provided from American creoles residing in the same city. Ib.; Alaman, Hist. Mej., i. 336; Diario de Mex., xiii. 385-6.
- ↑ 'Os veis elevados á la dignidad' are the words used in the regency's proclamation of the 14th of February. Gaz. de Mex., 1810, i. 418—'de hombres libres: no sois ya los mismos que antes encorbados baxo un yugo mucho mas duro mientras mas distantes estabais del centro del poder, mirados con indiferencia, vexados por la codicia, y destruidos por la ignorancia.'
- ↑ Their names were Andrés Savariego, Francisco Munilla, José María Gutierrez de Teran, José María Couto, Salvador Samartin, Octaviano Obregon, and Máximo Maldonado. Córtes, Diario, 1810, i. 2. By decree of August 20, 1810, Indians and Spanish-Indian offspring were made eligible to the rank of deputies. Diario de Mex., xiii. 689.
