in separate colums to different Towns in the neighbourhood of Mexico, with the intention of manifesting to the Government of that City the folly of any further resistance. It was, however, entirely in vain that the General had adopted this prudent measure, in vain that one or two praiseworthy Citizens had ventured to reason on the subject with Sen. Novella, and in vain that he was assured he could not rely on more than one third part of the Troops that composed the garrison; war! war! was the cry of him and his Junta Consultiva, and the motto they wore on their hats, and that was worn by all their Officers and Troops, was "Vivir y morir feiles y utiles."

Iturbide, after having rested a few days in Puebla, and partaken of the effusion of gratitude manifested towards him by the good People of that City, was on the point of leaving it, with the intention of fixing his head quarters near the Town of Chalco, and directing from thence the attack that was to have been made on Mexico, when he received a Letter from Lieutenant General Don Juan O'Donoju, who had recently arrived at Vera Cruz, informing him that he had been named by the King of Spain, Captain-General and Political Chief of the Kingdom, and had accepted the appointment at the solicitation of his friends, the Representatives of America in the Cortes of Spain, that he had risked his health and life, and sacrificed his convenience, at a period when he intended to retire from the publick service, without any other desire than that of acquiring the love and esteem of the People of New Spain, and without other sentiments than those of tranquillizing the disastrous inquietude that reigned in the Kingdom; not by consolidating or perpetuating the despotism that existed, or prolonging the Colonial dependence, nor falling into the errors or imitating the defects of many of his Predecessors, in supporting a system of Government, the tyranny and injustice of which arose from the barbarity of the Age in which it was established, but by reforming the ideas of the misled, calming the passions of the exasperated, and pointing out to the People, generally, the mode of obtaining with security, and without the horrible sacrifice they were making, the happiness which the illustration of the era in which they lived, had induced them to seek after, and which no rational Person could disapprove; he also required Iturbide to appoint a place at which they could have an interview, and realize the sincere and ardent desire he had to prevent the evils and misfortunes inseparable to a state of hostility, until such time as the Treaty they might conclude, founded on the basis of the plan published in Yguala, should be ratified by the King and Cortes.

What a blow was this to the existing Government of Mexico, and to those that preceded it since the Year 1810; what a contrast to their iniquitous and shameful mode of proceeding! The wise and beneficent O'Donoju, reading the publick Papers of the Independents, applauding the enterprize of their hero Iturbide, confirming his ideas, commend

ing his virtues, and desiring his friendship, as he does in the conclusion of his Letter: while the intrusive Novella and his Junta Consultiva, in imitation of their barbarous Predecessors, Vanegas and Calleja, were persecuting with unrelenting fury, and almost to death itself, those that communicated with the Independents, or in whose possession should be found any of their seditious writings; proscribing the Chiefs of the Revolution, and heaping upon them every species of reproach and ignominy!

But the scene had changed, the star of liberty that rose in our own Country had happily spread its influence in the more eastern and western hemispheres, and displayed to the World the criminal conduct of the Caligulas and Neros that had for such a length of time dishonoured Spain and abused human nature.

This Letter of O'Donoju, with another that he wrote to Snr. Novella, were sent by Iturbide to the Mexican Government, accompanied with a proposal for the suspension of arms until such time as the Definitive Treaty should be signed in Cordova, the City named by Iturbide as the point of Conference. Novella would, however, hear nothing of the sort, and the Letters were declared spurious, notwithstanding that Snr. Alcocer, a venerable Curate of this City, who had been intimately acquainted with O'Donoju in Spain, proved to the Junta the identity of the Signatures, by shewing others that he had in his possession; which contumacy on the part of Novella, exasperated Iturbide so much that he set off for Cordova, leaving orders with his Generals for the immediate occupation of the Towns of Tacuba, Tacubaya, Azcapuzalco, and Guadalupe, neither of which were distant more than half a league from Mexico, and all of them in possession of the European Troops.

This was an unexpected circumstance to Novella and the Junta, who had the folly and vanity to suppose they could frighten the Independents from the execution of their plan, by means of the silly Proclamations they almost daily issued, in which they affected to despise their number, challenged them openly to commence the attack, and declared the Generals Luaces and Llano traitors to their King and Country, for having surrendered the Cities of Queretaro and Puebla. The Heroes of Tepeaca, Cordova, and Toluca, were, however, not so easily scared, and a column of 1,500 Men sent by Colonel Bustamente against Azcapuzalco, presented to the Inhabitants of Mexico the sight of a most bloody and desperate Action, that took place between them and an equal number of the Regiments of Castile and Military Orders that composed the garrison of Azcapuzalco, the result of which was at least 600 killed and wounded, and the abandonment of the Town by the Europeans: a few days after an attempt was made to dislodge the Europeans that were stationed in Guadalupe, by means of cannon placed on a neighbouring hill, and while this operation was carrying

on by a part of the Independents, and others were taking possession of Tacuba and Tacubaya, from both of which Towns the Europeans had retired, an Aide-de-camp arrived with a Copy of the Treaty of Cordova, concluded between Generals O'Donoju and Iturbide, and an Order from the former to Snr. Novella, commanding him to obey him as Captain-General of the Kingdom, to cause him to be recognized as such by the Troops, to cease all hostilities from the instant he should receive the Order, and to adopt measures for the evacuation of the City. This peremptory Mandate on one side, and the near approach of the Independents on the other, placed Novella, the Junta, and their European Troops, in an awkward predicament, inasmuch as if they obeyed the Order, they would be subject to arrest and trial for the scandalous imprisonment of the late Vice-Roy, and if they refused compliance, to be treated as rebels against the King's Authority; their object therefore, was to shelter themselves from the punishment they had justly deserved in the best manner they could. And, with this view, although they were perfectly convinced of the presence of O'Donoju in the Kingdom, and of the reality of the Treaty signed in Cordova, they nevertheless affected to doubt the truth of one and the other, alleging that all might be a stratagem of Iturbide, and on this frivolous pretext refused to evacuate the City. On the deposition of the Conde del Venadito, the Junta Provincial, Ayuntamiento, and other Bodies corporate, hesitated to acknowledge the authority of Novella, but were obliged to do so eventually, from the fear of the bayonets he had at his command.

Now, however, that they were surrounded by the Independents and backed by O'Donoju, they openly protested against his proceedings, and, in consequence, he was obliged to ask for an Armistice, and compelled to send one of the Junta Consultiva to Puebla to ascertain, as he said, the identity of the Captain-General. This Envoy, who had hitherto been one of the most strenuous supporters of the measures of Novella, and one of the most active Members of the Junta, received such a fright from the lecture O'Donoju gave him, that he immediately returned, explained fully to Novella all that had passed, and for ever afterwards ceased to meddle in the matters at issue. Novella was also inclined to succumb, and would have renounced his employ, had it not been for fear of the Troops, he having lost all authority, and they having usurped the command, so that the City was in the utmost anarchy and confusion; and dreading at every instant a general massacre and pillage, with which it had been threatened daily for near a month, and which would most assuredly have succeeded, had it not been for the proximity and number of the Independent Army, that cut off all possibility of escape for the European Troops, whose idea was to commit all sorts of enormity, rob what they could, and take the road for Vera Cruz.

Things had got to that pass, that it was impossible to confide in a servant, and dangerous to do so to a friend; every thing like social intercourse was at an end; those that could with any sort of convenience leave the City, fled; and those that were obliged to remain, sought security in their houses, so that, in this once populous Metropolis, there was scarce a soul to be seen. In this state of things the Generals O'Donoju and Iturbide, arrived at Tacubaya, and the former had an interview with Snr. Novella; in the course of which he gave him to understand the impropriety of his conduct in resisting the Legitimate Authority as long as he did, the impossibility of defending the City, and the certainty of the massacre of the Europeans, should it be taken by assault, remonstrated with him respecting the insubordination of the Troops, pointed out to him the illegality of their conduct, and enjoined him to prevent the effusion of blood, by exercising the little influence he had with the Subaltern Officers and Soldiers, in the understanding that he would not take upon him to scrutinize their conduct in the arrest of the late Vice Roy, but leave them to exculpate themselves in the best way they could on arriving in Spain. The following day news was received of the surrender of the City Durango, and General Cruz, to General Negrete, after an obstinate resistance, in the course of which many lives were lost, and the Declaration of Independence in the western internal Provinces, under the Command of Field Marshal Alexo. Garcia Conde, so that if the Soldiers of Novella had before any hope, it now entirely disappeared, and, in order to avoid a disgraceful capitulation, were obliged to acknowledge the Supremacy of General O'Donoju, obey his Orders by evacuating the City, and march to that of Toluca, there to wait until it was convenient for them to embark.

To complete the Independence of the Kingdom there was now wanting the Declaration of the Province of Merida de Yucatan, which followed almost immediately the surrender of Acapulco, the Castle of Perote and Vera Cruz, the two former of which capitulated soon after, and the latter has without doubt ere this followed their example, advice having been received yesterday by the Government that it was on the eve of surrendering. The Province of Guatemala, which has always been a separate Vice-Royalty from that of Mexico, was also sensible of the general impulse, and, desirous of becoming an integral part of the Mexican Empire, has likewise sworn Independence, which, without doubt, will extend to its neighbouring Provinces, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Veragua, so that we may from this instant consider North America, with the exception of Canada, as divided into two grand and important Commonwealths, that may, with the aid of those that are forming in South America, be able, in the course of time, to give the Law to the opposite Continent.

I am very far from believing myself possessed of the qualities ne

cessary to treat with the energy and exactness that it merits, a subject of the importance of that on which I have ventured to write, and certainly should not have had the temerity to have touched upon it, had it not been for the particular situation in which I found myself, an eyewitness of all that passed, and from the conviction I have ever been under, that each Individual is bound to contribute towards the good of his Country, to the utmost of his ability, be it great or small. With this view, therefore, I shall, now that I have finished my Narrative, take the liberty to add a few remarks, and to say, in the first place, that the Revolution which I have attempted to describe, is not one of those that have been accomplished by means of unbridled passions, cruelty, rancour, or revenge, but, on the contrary, has, from its commencement, been accompanied with brotherly love, patriotism, disinterestedness, truth, and good faith, so that the more I reflect on its origin and progress, the more is my admiration excited, and the more am I tempted to exclaim, that America has produced two of the greatest heroes that ever existed, Washington and Iturbide. Secondly, that the new Go-⚫ vernment is established on a sure and solid foundation, the People being highly delighted with it, and the Subordinate Chiefs, Officers, and Soldiers, having one and all implicitly followed the example of moderation set them by their magnanimous Leader, who, to obviate strife, envy, and emulation, has absolutely refused the Crown, and insisted that the Emperor shall come from Spain, as he first proposed in the Town of Yguala. Indeed, the plan there published has been adhered to, with the most religious scrupulosity, except the slight variations made in it by the Treaty of Cordova, at the suggestion of General O'Donoju, and the Empire is in consequence governed by a Regency, of 5 of its most distinguished and enlightened Statesmen, who have elected General Iturbide President, and appointed him Commander-inChief of the Land and Sea Forces, and by a Convention, of 36 of the principal personages in the Empire, as respects talents, rank, and riches. The Independence is to be sworn in this City on the 27th inst. and the Cortes are to met on the 24th of February next, the anniversary of the Declaration in Yguala. In the mean time, the Convention will be employed in enacting the most salutary Decrees, and among those already passed is one declaring the Commerce of this Empire free to all Nations; another, doing away all the arbitrary taxes, impositions, and excises, imposed by the former Government; a 3rd, reducing the duties from 16 to 6 per cent; a 4th, for the encouragement of the Miners, relinquishing to them the quota of silver formerly paid to the King, with other imposts that amounted to 17 per cent, so that many poor minerals that could not be worked before, can now be used to advantage; and a 5th, recognizing and making the new Government responsible for the Debt contracted by the old one, of 36,000,000 of dollars.