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Condition of Spanish South America.

ordered to return to Mexico by forced marches, in the expectation that Iturbide would now attack the capital. Similar orders were also sent to Colonel Margues, in whose division was a principal part of the insubordinate regiment of the "four military orders." The male inhabitants of Mexico, from the age of sixteen to fifty, were also ordered to enrol themselves in the militia, without exception or distinction of persons, and every possible precaution was taken to prevent a surprise and maintain the city until such time as an answer should be received to despatches that had been sent to Spain, or troops should arrive that were expected from the Havana.

rights of which they had unjustly been deprived, no good was to be expected; and we see it employed from its very commencement in destroying the constitutional regimen, of which it did not leave a vestige, and in substituting the most arbitrary and tyrannical system that it is possible to imagine; all of which was fomented and sanctioned by a body that Novella had created, with the denomination of the "Junta Consultiva," composed of a few individuals who had contributed with their money to place the power in his hands, were furious at seeing approach the expiration of their authority, and with sentiments diametrically opposed to the system of liberality and philanthropy at present predominant.

great prudence I observed in my deportment, a bloody occurrence took place in Vera Cruz in consequence of the storming of that city by a party of troops commanded by an inconsiderate but brave young officer named Santa Ana, who scaled the walls and got complete possession of the town, but was afterwards obliged to retire with great loss, his soldiers having abandoned their arms with a view to plunder, and the inhabitants setting upon them when in that defenceless state.

All this, however, was not sufficient to allay the rancor that a certain part of the community At the time these scenes of horror were transhad conceived against the Viceroy, nor to con- acting in the capital, and to which I myself had vince them of his upright intentions, or extin-like to have been a victim, notwithstanding the guish the sparks of insubordination I have already hinted at in some of the European troops, which, from the first, was more immediately directed at his person than at the Government. A report was, therefore, industriously circulated that he was in secret correspondence with Iturbide, and that there was no real intention to defend the city, notwithstanding the preparations that were ostensibly making for its protection; the whole a prelude to the scandalous revolution of the 5th of July, which had for its object the arrest of that most excellent man, and, without doubt, was accomplished by dint of money paid by the merchants to the officers that took part in the affray, who had the temerity to secure the persons of their colonels and other principal military men opposed to their project, to assault the palace and make a prisoner of the Viceroy, and afterwards the audacity to place against its gates and the corners of the principal streets, for the information of the public, who were so many witnesses of their atrocity, a paper setting forth that he had of his own accord, and at the respectful petition of the officers of the European regiments, delivered the political and military command of the kingdom to Field Marshal Don Francisco Novella, the person they had pitched upon as the leader of the faction.

This gentleman had under his command the various corps of artillery and engineers that existed in the kingdom; and as his education and occupation until now had been altogether confined to that line, you will readily imagine him entirely unfit for the discharge of the arduous and complicated duties of Viceroy of these extensive provinces.

Indeed, he himself was sensible of his incompetency, and very prudently declined the offer; as unsuitable, however, as he was, there was no other person they could avail themselves of that was less so, and the same necessity that compelled them to name him obliged him to accept the appointment. From a Government constituted by the insubordination of a few soldiers that had the vanity to compare their iniquitious conduct with the noble enthusiasm of the Spanish nation, which, tired of obeying tyrants that abused the goodness of their monarch, rose in a mass to recover the

The city of Puebla de los Angeles, the largest in the kingdom except Mexico, next attracted the attention of General Iturbide, in front of which was a large army of Independents composed of the divisions of the Conde de la Cadena, Herrera, Bravo, Filisola, and others, that only awaited the orders of their General to make the attack, and to prevent which, and the loss of may valuable lives he went in person, preferring, in all cases, the plan he had from the first adopted of reducing his enemies by means of persuasion and negotiation rather than by force of arms. The fate of Puebla was all-important to the Government in the critical situation in which it found itself. being one of the chain of fortified towns that connect Mexico with Vera Cruz, to which port it had resolved to retire with the European part of the army and inhabitants, in the event of not being able to sustain itself in the capital Puebla was, therefore, well garrisoned, served with an excellent park of artillery, and defended with many cannon of a large calibre, so that its commander-in-chief, Brigadier Don Ciriaco Llano, the Marquis de Vivanco, and other experienced officers stationed there, had, until the last, san guine hopes of being able to defend it. Iturbide however, called to his assistance a part of the army he had left in Queretaro, and surrounded the city with so many troops that resistance would have been nothing short of an act of madness; therefore capitulated.

On the surrender of Puebla, the army of Itur bide, which had now augmented to the number of about eighteen thousand, and which was com posed entirely of veteran troops that had been disciplined in the King's service, and had gone over to him clandestinely, or joined him on the fall of the various cities he had conquered, re

Condition of Spanish South America.

ceived orders to march in separate columns to different towns in the neighborhood 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 Senor 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 worn by all their officers and troops, was, "Vivir y morir fieles 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 headquarters 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 public 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, or 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 Iguala, 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 public papers of the Independents, applauding the enterprise of their hero Iturbide, confirming his ideas, commending his virtues, and desiring his friend

ship, 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 dishonored Spain and abused human nature.

This letter of O'Donoju, with another that he wrote to Senor Novella, was sent by Iturbide to the Mexican Government, accompanied with a proposal for the suspension of arms until such times 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 Senor 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 showing 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 was 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 fifteen hundred 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 six hundred 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 neighboring 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 aid-de-camp arrived with.

Condition of Spanish South America.

a copy of the treaty of Cordova, concluded be- there was scarce a soul to be seen. In this state tween General O'Donoju and Iturbide, and an of things, the Generals O'Donoju and Iturbide arorder from the former to Sr. Novella, command-rived at Tacubaya, and the former had an intering him to obey him as Captain General of the view with Sr. Novella, in the course of which kingdom, to cause him to be recognised as such he gave him to understand the impropriety of his by the troops, to cease all hostilities from the in- conduct in resisting the legitimate authority as stant he should receive the order, and to adopt long as he did, the impossibility of defending the measures for the evacuation of the city. This city, and the certainty of the massacre of the Euperemptory mandate on one side, and near ap- ropeans, should it be taken by assault; remon proach of the Independents on the other, placed strated with him respecting the insubordination of Novella, the Junta, and their European troops in the troops, pointed out to him the illegality of their an awkward predicament; inasmuch as, if they conduct, and enjoined him to prevent the effusion obeyed the order, they would be subject to arrest of blood, by exercising the little influence he had and trial for the scandalous imprisonment of the with the subaltern officers and soldiers, in the unlate Viceroy; and if they refused compliance, to derstanding that he would not take upon him to be treated as rebels against the King's authority; scrutinize their conduct in the arrest of the late their object, therefore, was to shelter themselves Viceroy, but leave them to exculpate themselves from the punishment they had justly deserved in in the best way they could on arriving in Spain. the best manner they could. And, with this view, The following day news was received of the sur although they were perfectly convinced of the render of the city of Durango and General Cruz presence of O'Donoju in the kingdom, and of the to General Negrete, after an obstinate resistance, reality of the treaty signed in Cordova, they in the course of which many lives were lost, and nevertheless affected to doubt the truth of one and the declaration of independence in the western inthe other, alleging that all might be a stratagem ternal provinces, under the command of Field of Iturbide; and on this frivolus pretext refused Marshal Alexo Garcia Conde; so that if the solto evacuate the city. On the deposition of the diers of Novella had before any hope, it now enConde del Venadito, the Junta Provincical Ay-tirely disappeared, and, in order to avoid a disuntamiento, 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 forever aftewards 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 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 in 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 metroplis,

graceful 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 lat ter has, without doubt, ere this followed their example, advice having been received yesterday by the Government that it was on the eve of surren dering. The province of Guatemala, which has always been a separate Viceroyalty 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 neighboring 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 necessary to treat with the energy and exactness that it merits a subject of the inportance 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 eye-witness 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,

Condition of Spanish South America.

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, rancor, 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 Government 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 Iguala. 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, now governed by a regency of five of its most distinguished and enlightened statesmen, who have elected General Iturbide, President, and appointed him commander-in-chief of the land and sea forces, and by a convention of thirty-six 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 instant, and the Cortes are to meet on the 24th of February next, the anniversary of the declaration in Iguala. 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 third, reducing the duties from sixteen to six per cent.; a fourth, for the encouragement of the miners, relinquishing to them the quota of silver formerly paid to the King, with other imposts that amounted to seventeen per cent.: so that many poor minerals that could not be worked before, can now be used to advantage; and a fifth, recognising and making the new Government responsible for the debt contracted by the old one, of thirty-six millions of dollars.

That there is a strong bias in the minds of the people of this country in favor of the Government and citizens of the United States in preference to all other nations, is beyond a doubt; and that the convention, of which four-fifths are native Americans, and the Regency, which is composed entirely of them, are actuated with the same sentiments, is also certain. On this subject I have had various conferences with the leading members of the Administration, whose sentiments will be fully explained to you shortly by Don Juan Manuel de Elizalda, the Minister Plenipotentiary that is al17th CoN. 1st Sess.-67

ready named, and now preparing to go to Washington, where I have no doubt he will be received and acknowledged as the representative of a free and independent nation; the Mexican empire being so at this time to all intents and purposes, in the first place, by the unanimous wish and consent, power and authority, of its inhabitants; and, secondly, by the treaty signed at Cordova, between the Generals O'Donoju and Iturbide, the deputed agents of Spain and this empire. Your most obedient, humble servant,

JAMES SMITH WILCOCKS.

Treaties concluded in the city of Cordova, on the 24th instant, between the Senors D. Juan O'Donoju, Lieutenant General of the armies of Spain, and D. Augustin de Iturbide, First Chief of the Imperial Mexican Army of the Three Guarantees.

The independence of New upon Old Spain being declared, and it having an army capable of supporting this declaration, the provinces of the Kingdom being subdued by it, the capital, where the legitimate authority had been deposited, being besieged, and when there only remained for the European Government the fortresses of Vera Cruz and Acapulco, dismantled and without the means of resisting a siege well directed and which would last some time, Lieutenant General D. Juan O'Donoju arrived at the first port with the character and authority of Captain General and superior politcal chief of this Kingdom, appointed by His Catholic Majesty, who, being desirous of avoiding the evils which afflict the people in vicissitudes of this sort, and trying to conciliate the interests of both Spains, invited the first chief of the imperial army, D. Augustin de Iturbide, to an interview, in which they might discuss the great business of the independence, by loosening without breaking the chains which united the two continents. The interview took place in the city of Cordova, on the 24th of August, 1821; and the first with the authority of his character, and the latter with that of the Mexican empire, after having conferred at length on what was most proper for both nations, considering the present situation and the last occurrences, agreed upon the following articles, which they signed by duplicates, to give them all the force of which documents of this sort are capable, each one keeping an original in his possession for the greater security and validity:

1. This America shall be recognised as a sovereign and independent nation, and shall in future be called the Mexican Empire.

2. The Government of the empire shall be a constitutional limited monarchy.

3. There shall be named, to reign in the Mexican empire, (after the oath which the fourth article of the plan points out,) in the first place, the Senor D. Ferdinand VII., Catholic King of Spain, and, upon his renunciation or non-admission, his brother, the Most Serene Senor Infant D. Carlos; upon his renunciation or non-admission, the Most Serene Senor Infant D. Francisco de Paula; upon his renunciation or non-admission, the Most Serene Senor D. Carlos Luis, In

Condition of Spanish South America.

fant of Spain, formerly heir of Etruria, now of Lucca; and upon his renunciation or non-admission, he whom the Cortes of the empire shall designate.

4. The Emperor shall fix his Court in Mexico, which shall be the capital of the empire.

5. Two commissioners shall be appointed by his Excellency General O'Donoju, who shall go to the Court of Spain to place in the royal hands of Senor D. Ferdinand VII. a copy of this treaty, and the exposition which shall accompany it, for the service of His Majesty first, while the Cortes of the empire offer him the crown, with all the formalities and guarantees which a business of so much importance demands; and entreat His Majesty that, in the case of the third article, he deign to notify their Serene Highnesses the Infants, mentioned in same article, in the order in which they are named; interposing his benign influence that one of those personages designated from his august house may come to this empire, inasmuch as the prosperity of both nations is concerned in it; and for the satisfaction which the Mexicans will receive in adding this to the other bonds of friendship with which Spaniards can and desire to be united.

6. There shall be immediately appointed, according to the spirit of the plan of Iguala, a Junta composed of the first men of the empire for their virtues, for their stations, for their fortunes, authority, and judgment, of those who are designated by the general opinion, the number of whom may be very considerable, that the union of lights may insure the success of their determinations, which are emanations of the authority and powers which the following articles grant them.

7. The Junta, of which the following article treats, shall be named the Provisional Junta of Government.

8. Lieutenant General D. Juan O'Donoju shall be one of the Provisional Junta of Government, in consideration of the convenience of a person of his rank taking an active and immediate part in the Government, and from its being indispensable to admit some of those who were designated in the said plan, in conformity with its very spirit.

the executive power, and which shall govern in the name of the monarch, until he shall take the sceptre of the empire.

12. The Provisional Junta, being installed, shall govern provisionally according to the existing laws, in every thing not opposed to the plan of Iguala, and until the Cortes form the constitution of the State.

13. The Regency, immediately after being appointed, shall proceed to the convocation of the Cortes, agreeably to the method which the Provisional Junta of Government may determine, in conformity to the spirit of the twenty-fourth article of the said plan.

14. The executive power is vested in the Regency, the legislative in the Cortes; but as it has happened for some time before that they were united, that both may not again fall under one authority, the Junta shall exercise the legislative power, first in the cases which may occur, and which cannot await the meeting of the Cortes: and then shall proceed in accordance with the Regency: secondly, to serve as an auxiliary and consuitive body to the Regency in its determinations.

15. Every person who belongs to a society, the system of government being changed, or the country passing into the power of another prince, remains in the state of natural liberty to transport himself, with his fortune, to what place he pleases, without there being any right to deprive him of this liberty, (unless he shail have contracted some debt with the society to which he belonged, by crime, or in other ways known to publicists,) in this case Europeans are admitted into New Spain, and the Americans resident in the Peninsula; consequently, they shall be free to remain, adopting this or that country; or to demand their passports. which cannot be refused to them, for removing from the realm in the time prefixed, bringing or carrying with them their families and effects, but satisfying, at the departure of the last, the established duties of exportation, or which may hereafter be established by competent authority.

16. The former alternative shall not have place with respect to public officers or military men 9. The Provisional Junta of Government shall who are notoriously disaffected to the independence have a President appointed by itself, and whose of Mexico; but these shall of necessity quit this election shall take place in one of its own mem-empire within the term which the Regency may bers or not, who shall have an absolute plurality prescribe, carrying away their property, and of votes; and if an election does not take effect paying the duties mentioned in the preceding at the first voting, they shall proceed to a second article. scrutiny, beginning with the two who may have together most votes.

10. The first step of the Provisional Junta of Government shall be, to publish its installation, and the motives which unite it, with the explanations which it may consider proper, to illustrate to the people their interests, and the mode of proceeding in the election of deputies to the Cortes, of which mention shall be made hereafter.

11. The Provisional Junta of Government shall appoint, after the election of its President, a Regency, composed of three persons, either of its own members or otherwise, in which shall be vested

17. The occupation of the capital by the troops of the Peninsula being an obstacle to the realizing of this treaty, it becomes indispensable to overcome it; but, as the first chief of the imperial ariny, uniting his sentiments to those of the Mexican nation, is desirous not to take it by force, be cause there are abundant resources, notwithstanding the valor and constancy of the said Peninsular troops, for the want of means and ability to support themselves against the system adopted by the whole nation, Don Juan O'Donoju offers to use his authority that the said troops may complete their departure without the effusion of blood, and

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