spirit, also, which was being developed, now began to be publicly exhibited, and two opposite factions were respectively represented by writers who advocated a republican form of government on the one side, and the elevation of Iturbide to the imperial throne on the other.
The action of the generalissimo had not given that general satisfaction which was necessary to secure harmony between the two great parties that had for so long a time opposed each other. He had almost ignored the services of the military chiefs who had fought under the insurgent banners, and with the exception of Guerrero, Bravo, and a few others, the names of revolutionary leaders were not found on the list of recipients of rewards and promotions. Arrogating to himself the credit of the consummation of independence, he left entirely out of sight the merits of those who had previously striven so hard to attain it, and instead of displaying an impartial appreciation alike of royalists and insurgents—denominations which indeed had virtually ceased to exist when the two sides coalesced as independents—his marked preference for the former caused just offence to the latter.[1] The ill feeling thus early created soon assumed a practical form.
First among the important duties of the junta was the formation of a plan for the assembling of the national congress; and in this matter Iturbide must use all his cunning to further the ambitious views he secretly cherished. The system to be pursued in conducting the elections was, according to the treaty of Cordoba, that of the Spanish constitution; but this would not secure such a congress as the generalissimo hoped to see established. He wished it to be as subservient to himself as he had found the members
- ↑ This was particularly observable in Iturbide's anxiety to retain Spaniards in office. In his memorial, written at Leghorn in Sept. 1823, he says: 'Todos los europeos que quisieron seguir la suerte del pais, conservaron los empleos que obtenian, y fueron ascendidos sucsesivamente á aquellos á, que tenian derecho por sus servicios y méritos.' Carrera, Mit. y Pol., 13.
