1789, of a good family though in reduced circumstances. He early gave evidence of talents, and was admitted to the bar on the 16th of December, 1811.[1] The executive, after Iturbide's fall, made him an oidor of the audiencia, and on the 25th of December, 1824, he was elected by a majority of the states to fill a justiceship in the supreme court of the republic, from which date he was connected with that court nearly all the time till his death.
Peña also held other important offices, namely, minister of the interior in 1837, and member of the poder conservador, in which latter office he achieved prominence. He was professor of law in the university, and toward the end of 1841 participated in framing the bases orgánicas. In 1843 he was made a councillor of state and senator, and to the latter office was reëlected in 1845. He had the portfolio of relations under President Herrera, and at the fall of that administration returned to his position in the supreme court.
Peña's course in upholding the constitution doubtless saved Mexico from the evils of anarchy, which would necessarily have followed if any heed had been paid to Santa Anna's pretension to dictate who should be his successor as president. The new government was unhesitatingly recognized and congratulated by several comandantes generales and governors. It insisted on the elections of members to the national congress being effected. President Peña was thoroughly convinced that the war could not, for the want of resources, be prosecuted any longer, but would not at-
- ↑ In 1813 he was síndico of the ayuntamiento of Mexico, an office that he filled so ably that the king appointed him, at the request of many respectable and influential persons, an oidor of the audiencia of Quito in Ecuador, which he did not accept, requesting to be employed in New Spain. By the time this was decided the independence had been consummated, when Peña swore to support it, and was given a high position in the territorial audiencia of Mexico, which he retained till the 21st of October, 1822, when, being already a councillor of state, he was appointed by the emperor minister to Columbia, which appointment had no effect, the empire having ceased soon after. He had also conferred on him the cross of the order of Guadalupe. Rivera, Gob. de Méx., ii. 341-2.
