justice and ecclesiastical affairs; Francisco de Arrillaga, of the treasury; and José Ignacio García Illueca, of war and the navy; but this last department, on the death of the incumbent, July 12, 1823, was given to Brigadier José Joaquin de Herrera.[1]
The whole system of administration was soon changed: the capitanías generales instituted by Iturbide were reduced to mere comandancias in each province.[2] The congress and government devoted their energies to repair the evils inflicted on the country during the last days of the empire. Political prisoners were liberated; the appointments for members of a supreme court were made null;[3] the council of state was suppressed. Every mark or badge of the late empire was done away with, it being taken for granted that the future form of government would be republican. The issue of paper money was discontinued,[4] and other important commercial and financial measures were enacted. To provide resources for the current expenses and for other urgent obligations was a matter of paramount necessity.[5] Orders were accordingly issued for the immediate sale at lower than regular rates of all tobacco and cigars in the govern-
- ↑ The four portfolios had been for a time in charge of Illueca; that of relations to the 15th of April; that of the treasury till the 30th of April; and that of justice till the 6th of June. Mex. Mem. Hacienda, 1870, 1027; Alaman, Apuntes Biog., 19, 21-2; Ramirez y Sesma, Col. Dec., 307; Bustamante, Hist. Iturbide, 150.
- ↑ That of Mexico was left in charge of the Marqués de Vivanco, detached from the civil government; Echávarri went back to that of Puebla; Victoria retained that of Vera Cruz, but having gone to Jalapa together with the Spanish commissioners, left the command with Colonel Eulogio de Villa Urrutia; Anastasio Bustamante resigned his position in the provincias internas, the eastern portion of which was again detached from the western, and its command given to Brigadier Felipe de la Garza. Bustamante became comandante general of Guadalajara, his native place. Alaman, Hist. Méj., v. 760.
- ↑ Mex. Col. Leyes, Órd. y Dec., ii. 115; Mex. Col. Dec. Sob. Cong. Mex., 95, 134, 147-8.
- ↑ This measure was decreed by the junta instituyente at the latter part of 1822. It was ordered that notes to the amount of $4,000,000 should be manufactured. From Jan. 1, 1823, one third of all public salaries was to be paid in this money, which was also made a legal tender, in the same proportion, in all commercial and retail transactions for amounts over three dollars. This currency was, however, received with disfavor. Alaman, Hist. Méj., v. 682-3.
- ↑ On the day the provisional government was installed there were only $42 in the treasury. Alaman, Hist. Méj., v. 811.
