conforme aux intérêts de leurs Peuples et à leur gloire, qu'elles ont Les Membres du Gouvernement Provisoire de la Grèce. ATHANASE CANACERI, Vice-Président. JEAN ORLANDO. JEAN LOGOTHETY. Le Secrétaire des Affaires Etrangères, NEGRI. DECLARATION of the Provisional Government of Greece, LE Gouvernement Provisoire de la Grèce. Mue par son propre élan, la Nation Grecque combat contre la Tyrannie; ses droits sont connus et incontestables, elle ne demande rien autre que de faire cesser l'injustice, n'épargnant à cet effet aucun sacrifice, et recherchant ses avantages sans vouloir nuire à aucune société d'hommes justes. Comme elle connoit ses Droits, elle connoit aussi ses devoirs; et en publiant son indépendance, elle a établi un Gouvernement central, afin de protéger les uns, et faire éxécuter ponctuellement les autres; mais comme pour parvenir à ce but sacré et național, le Gouvernement doit enlever à l'Ennemi les moyens de s'opposer à son Exécution, il déclare aujourd'hui, usant à cet effet du Droit des Nations et de l'Europe, en état de blocus, tous les Parages qui sont encore au pouvoir de l'Ennemi, dans l'Epire, dans le Peloponèse, dans l'Ile de Négrepont, en Thessalie, depuis Epidaure (Dulcino) jusqu'à Salonique, même y compris les Iles de la Mer Egée, celles des Sporades qui sont entre leurs mains, et Candie. Si des navires sous quelque Pavillon qu'ils soient, après avoir été formellement avertis par les Capitaines des Bâtimens Grecs de cette Résolution, entrent dans les Ports ennemis ci-dessus désignés, ils seront pris et traités d'après les Loix généralement établis. Les Commandans des Armemens Grecs continueront à donner des avis de cette mesure aux Navires Etrangers, jusqu'à ce que le Gouvernement soit informé que la présente publication est parvenue à qui de droit. La présente Déclaration sera communiquée à tous les Consuls des Puissances amies qui se trouvent en différens lieux de la domination Grecque. Corinthe, le Mars, 1822. A. MAVROCORDATO, Président du Tribunal Executif. TH. NEGRI, Ministre des Affaires Etrangères, Premier Chancelier. DECREE of Congress, announcing the Election of Don Augustin de Iturbide as Constitutional Emperor of Mexico. -19th May, 1822. (Translation.) THE Regency of the Empire entrusted provisionally with the Government during the absence of the Emperor, to all those who shall see and hear the present, know, that the Sovereign Constituent Mexican Congress has decreed as follows: In the Palace of Mexico, on the 19th of May, 1822, the 2d Year of Independence, the Sovereign Constituent Mexican Congress, assembled in Extraordinary Session in consequence of the events of last night, and of the Official Report thereon of the Generalissimo Admiral, which transmitted the various Documents inserted in the Proceedings of this day; having heard the acclamations of the People, which are in conformity with the general wish of the Congress and of the Nation; taking into consideration that the Cortes of Spain, by a Decree inserted in the Madrid Gazette of the 13th and 14th February last, have declared the Treaty of Cordova to be null and void, and that, therefore, the Mexican Nation is no longer bound to its fulfilment, but enjoys the liberty, which the IIId Article of the said Treaty grants to the Sovereign Constituent Congress, to name an Emperor, in the event of the renunciation, or refusal, of the Persons therein called to the Throne; has been pleased to elect for Constitutional Emperor of the Mexican Empire, Don Augustin de Iturbide, first of that name, upon the bases proclaimed in the Plan of Iguala, and accepted universally by the Nation, which are described in the form of Oath he is to take before the Congress, on the 21st instant. The Regency of the Empire will take cognizance of this Decree, and will communicate it to all the Authorities, causing it to be printed, published, and circulated; and will at the same time cease to exercise the functions provisionally entrusted to its care. FRANCISCO GARCIA CANTARENA, President. We therefore command all the Tribunals, Justices, Governors and other Authorities, Civil, Military, and Ecclesiastic, to observe and cause to be observed, fulfilled and executed, the above Decree in all its parts. They will adopt the necessary measures for its fulfilment, and that it be printed, published and circulated. Mexico, 21st May, 1822, the 2d Year of Independence. JOZE ISIDRO YANEZ. MIGUEL VALENTIN. EL CONDE DE CASA DE HERAS. Don Jozé Manuel de Herrera. PROCLAMATION of Don Augustin de Iturbide to the THE wish, in addressing you, to preserve the tone and confidence simply of a Fellow-Citizen, is still entertained by him whom you have been pleased to raise from that class to the Imperial dignity. What have you found in your Compatriot to render him worthy of an honour so exalted and brilliant? Did you, perchance, see in him the Man who emancipated the Nation from the tyranny of 3 Centuries! Is the Crown an offering of gratitude natural to so magnanimous and generous a People? Yes, certainly, gratitude, that sentiment which Heaven has implanted in all hearts of this delightful region, never shewed itself in greater force than at the time when our Country recognized itself as free and independent. From that moment I was struck with admiration of the thankful feelings of the Inhabitants-then were the Diadem and obedience tendered to me with free and sincere acclamation; and I would then have accepted them at once, making to my Country this last sacrifice, assuredly the most painful, considering my natural disposition and the object of my wishes,-since I began to institute comparisons between the disquietudes of the World and the sweets of solitude had not my very duties and services, pledged to the Country, furnished me with a two-fold motive for refusing its liberal offers. Fixed in the principle that every thing should be sacrificed for the Country; resolute and consistent in the Plan conceived for the recovery of our National Independence, and faithful to the Treaty concluded at Cordova, with a Minister of the Spanish Government, it will not be said that Iturbide availed himself of the regard of the People, but only to moderate the demonstrations of their love and gratitude. Scarcely had publick opinion begun to manifest itself, by means of the Press, designating him as the Person to wield the Sceptre of the Empire, when he endeavoured, without delay, to give it a different direction. He declared and proclaimed his own, in publick and private, as a Citizen and a Magistrate; as one interested in the glory of the Nation, and punctilious and delicate in respect to what regarded his personal interest. The laurels of that Victory which broke the power of the Oppressors of his Country quietly encompassed his brows, and assigned proper limits to that laudable ambition which was grounded in all the virtues. Why then constrain him to ascend the Throne, from whose elevation he can no longer view, with complacency, the services rendered to his Country, without feeling himself pressed down by the excess of his recompense? But the Nation has willed it; and Iturbide yields to its supreme will, now that he ascertains that it is not an inconsiderate movement of blind gratitude, but that irresistible impulse which always directs the general wish towards the publick prosperity. The Nation, indeed, desired it eagerly; but was diverted from it by the dangerous collision of opinions. The form of the Government had no consistency; it appeared destined either to be used in aid of the despotism of those who struggled against its Independence, or to be annihilated by its most enthusiastic Protectors. Our Country was at one time likely to drench with its blood the steps of a Throne, in order that a Foreign Prince might ascend it, and at another to be torn in pieces by the factions of its own Sons. Meanwhile a general apathy began to prevail, which stopped the supplies of the National Treasury, enervated the Army, paralyzed the Government, impaired the vigour of the Empire, and prepared us to be the easy prey either of Foreign Invasion, of secret machination, or of intestine discord. Every thing, in short, betrayed symptoms of that anarchy into which the Mexican Nation was about to plunge, at the time when the Imperial Army proclaimed its Independence at Iguala. And was not the Nation freely to exert its will at such a crisis? Was not the hand which had been enabled to rescue it from its former perilous situation, under an obligation, in consistency, ever afterwards to protect and save it? Yes, adored Country, that same hand, with the sole object of your preservation, will sway the Sceptre which you have confided to it! In the same spirit and to the same extent, that he sought honestly to decline it as a reward for past services, will he labour to sustain it, and the weight which is added to it by the very onerous circumstances under which it is received. That which could not be accepted, without reproach to your mere gratitude, cannot blamelessly, be denied to your service, to your benefit, and to your authority. You have before you, my Fellow-Citizens, the real impressions of your grateful Compatriot. Heaven, which has deigned, so visibly, always to countenance his sincere intentions, is now witness to them. He invokes Heaven, in proof of the purity of those which have determined him to accept the Crown. You are also aware of our deplorable situation, and of the necessity of escaping from it, by whatever course is open to us. Full of virtue and moderation, you have chosen to pursue the dictates of gratitude, and to exercise the right inherent in every free Nation, to establish the form of its Government, and to nominate its Rulers. The national will is respected; and he, in whose favour it is pronounced, cannot take umbrage at the dissent which was manifested by some Persons, before the formal Act was promulgated which elevated him to the rank of First Citizen and Chief of the Nation: much less can they be objects of his disapprobation and resentment, who, for their beloved Country, can discover in him who is charged with the common welfare, only the tenderness of a Fellow-Citizen and Friend. Accustomed to obedience from his earliest years, he has received lessons of command unknown to those who acquire power by hereditary title: a stranger to prejudice, vanity, and adulation, he can feel and acknowledge the supremacy of the Law, and be penetrated with the undoubted truth, that in the love of the People is the felicity of the Prince, and in the kindness of the Prince the happiness of the People. Let this, therefore, be the glorious foundation of your choice! And as you, my Fellow-Citizens, appreciate the motives which have prompted my acceptance of your favour, at so great a sacrifice of inclination, let me invite you to co-operate with me, so that the Imperial Authority may be constantly directed to the Publick Weal; to the repulse of all dangers which may threaten it, and to the aggrandisement of the Empire. Above all, be persuaded of the very tender affection and cordiality with which the wishes of the Nation are gratified by AUGUSTIN. DECREE of the Emperor Augustin de Iturbide, dissolving the Congress of Mexico, and establishing a Representative Junta of Government.-31st October, 1822. (Translation.) His Majesty the Emperor has been pleased to issue the following Decree : Augustin, by Divine Providence, and by the Congress of the Nation, first Constitutional Emperor of Mexico, and Grand Master of the Imperial Order of Guadaloupe, to all those who shall hear and see the present, know :-That, from the moment that I proclaimed at Iguala the Independence and Liberty of the Mexican Nation, I became the centre of the general opinion of all the Towns and Provinces; and that I contracted the obligation of bringing to a conclusion that glorious enterprize. I succeeded in this by the Divine aid, and the efforts of the gallant Army, which, under my orders, left nothing undone for the fulfilment on its part of the general wish, it having, together with me, constituted itself a guarantee for consolidating the Representative Government which I promised in the Plan, published at Iguala, and which was ratified by the subsequent Treaty of Cordova. I have religiously performed my promise. The Nation trusted that the Constituent Congress would dictate wise Laws for the organization of the Government, and the felicity of the Empire: such was the expectation of all the People; but melancholy experience has shewn that, far from fulfilling its duties with exactness, the Congress entered into questions quite foreign to its institution, exceeding, from the very moment of its installation, the powers confided to the Deputies by the Provinces; arrogating to itself titles and attributes which do not belong to it; and looking with a cold indifference upon the wants of the State, the administration of Justice, the condition of the Employés, and the misery, which it has employed by every means to aggravate, of the Army; notwithstanding that many of the Deputies endeavoured to dissuade it from such proceedings. |