Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican Part 25

CHAPTER IV

1821-1824.

O'DONOJU VICEROY.--CONDUCT OF ITURBIDE--NOVELLA.--REVOLT--TREATY OF CORDOVA.--FIRST MEXICAN CORTES--ITURBIDE EMPEROR--HIS CAREER--EXILED TO ITALY.--ITURBIDE RETURNS--ARREST--EXECUTION--HIS CHARACTER AND SERVICES.

O'DONOJU, LXII. VICEROY OF NEW SPAIN, ITURBIDE, EMPEROR OF MEXICO.--1821-1824.

It will be seen by the Plan of Iguala, that Mexico was designed to become an independent sovereignty under Ferdinand VII. or, in the event of his refusal, under the Infantes Don Carlos and Don Francisco de Paula. Iturbide was still a royalist--not a republican; and it is very doubtful whether he would ever have a.s.sented to popular authority, even had his life been spared to witness the final development of the revolution. It is probable that his penetrating mind distinguished between popular hatred of unjust restraint, and the genuine capacity of a nation for liberty, nor is it unlikely that he found among his countrymen but few of those self-controlling, self-sacrificing and progressive elements, which const.i.tute the only foundation upon which a republic can be securely founded. His ambition had not yet been fully developed by success, and it cannot be imagined that he had already fixed his heart upon the imperial throne.

When the Plan of Iguala was proclaimed, the entire army of the future emperor, consisted of only eight hundred men, all of whom took the oath of fidelity to the project, though many deserted when they found the country was not immediately unanimous in its approval.

In the capital, the viceroy appears to have been paralyzed by the sudden and unexpected movement of his officer. He paused, hesitated, failed to act, and was deposed by the Europeans, who treated him as they had Iturrigaray in 1808. Don Francisco de Novella, an artillery officer, was installed temporarily in his stead, but the appointment created a dissension among the people in the capital and the country, and this so completely prostrated the action of the central authorities, who might have crushed the revolution by a blow, that Iturbide was enabled to prosecute his designs throughout the most important parts of the interior of the country, without the slightest resistance.

He seized a million of dollars on their way to the west coast, and joined Guerrero who still held out on the river Zacatula with the last remnant of the old revolutionary forces. Guerrero gave in his adhesion to Iturbide, as soon as he ascertained that it was the general's design to make Mexico _independent_, though, in all likelihood, he disapproved the other features of the plan. Guerrero's act was of the greatest national importance. It rallied all the veteran fighters and friends of Morelos and the Bravos. Almost all of the former leaders and their dispersed bands, came forth, at the cry of "independence,"

under the banner of Iturbide. Victoria even, for a while, befriended the rising hero; but he had fought for a liberal government, and did not long continue on amicable terms with one who could not control his truly independent spirit. The clergy, as well as the people, signified their intention to support the gallant insurgent;--and, in fact, the whole country, from Vera Cruz to Acapulco, with the exception of the capital, was soon open in its adhesion to him and his army.

DON JUAN O'DONOJU, LXII. VICEROY OF NEW SPAIN.--1821.

Iturbide was now in full authority, and whilst preparing to march on the city of Mexico, in which the viceroy, _ad interim_, was shut up, he learned that Don Juan O'Donoju had arrived at San Juan de Ulua to fill the place of Apodaca as viceroy. Proposals were immediately sent by the general to this new functionary, and in an interview with him at Cordova, Iturbide proposed the adoption of the Plan of Iguala _by treaty_, as the only project by which the Spaniards in Mexico could be saved from the fury of the people, and the sovereignty of the colony preserved for Ferdinand. We shall not pause to enquire whether the viceroy was justified or even empowered, to compromise the rights of Spain by such a compact. O'Donoju, though under the safeguard of a truce, was in truth a helpless man as soon as he touched the soil of Mexico, for no portions of it were actually under the Spanish authority except the castle of San Juan de Ulua and the capital, whose garrisons were chiefly composed of European levies. Humanity, perhaps, ultimately controlled his decision, and in the name of his master, he recognised the independence of Mexico and yielded the metropolis to the "army of the three Guaranties," which entered it peacefully on the 27th of September, 1821. A provisional Junta of thirty-six persons immediately elected a regency of five, of which Iturbide was president, and, at the same time, he was created Generalissimo, Lord High Admiral, and a.s.signed a yearly stipend of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

On the 24th of February, 1822, the first Mexican Congress or Cortes, met; but it contained within it the germ of all the future discontents, which since that day, have hara.s.sed and nearly ruined Mexico. Scarcely had this body met when three parties manifested their bitter animosities and personal ambitions. The Bourbonists adhered, loyally, to the Plan of Iguala, a const.i.tutional monarchy and the sovereignty of Ferdinand. The Republicans, discarded the plan as a device that had served its day, and insisted upon a central or federal republic; and, last of all, the partisans of the successful soldier, still clung to all of the plan save the clause which gave the throne to a Bourbon prince, for, at heart, they desired to place Iturbide himself upon it, and thus to cut off their country forever from all connection with Europe.

As soon as O'Donoju's treaty of Cordova reached Spain, it was nullified by the Cortes, and the Bourbon party in Mexico, of course fell with it. The Republicans and Iturbidists, alone remained on the field to contend for the prize, and after congress had disgraced itself by incessant bickerings over the army and the public funds, a certain Pio Marcha, first sergeant of the first regiment of infantry gathered a band of _leperos_ before the palace of Iturbide on the night of the 18th of May, 1822, and proclaimed him Emperor, with the t.i.tle of AGUSTIN THE FIRST. A show of resistance was made by Iturbide against the proffered crown; but it is likely that it was in reality, as faint as his joy was unbounded at the sudden elevation from a barrack room to the imperial palace. Congress, of course, approved the decision of the mob and army. The provinces sanctioned the acts of their representatives, and Iturbide ascended the throne.

But his reign was brief. Rapid success, love of power, impatience of restraint,--all of which are characteristic of the Spanish soldier,--made him strain the bonds of const.i.tutional right. His struggles for control were incessant. "He demanded," says Ward, "a veto upon all articles of the const.i.tution then under discussion, and the right of appointing and removing, at pleasure, the members of the supreme tribunal of justice. He recommended also the establishment of a military tribunal in the capital, with powers but little inferior to those exercised by the Spanish commandants during the revolution; and when these proposals were firmly rejected, he arrested, on the night of the 26th August, 1822, fourteen of the deputies who had advocated, during the discussion, principles but little in unison with the views of the government."

This high handed measure, and the openly manifested displeasure of congress, produced so complete a rupture between the emperor and the popular representatives, that it was impossible to conduct public affairs with any concert of action. Accordingly, Iturbide dissolved the a.s.sembly, and on the 30th of October, 1822, created an Inst.i.tuent Junta of forty-five persons selected by himself from amongst the most pliant members of the recent congress. This irregularly formed body was intolerable to the people, while the expelled deputies, who returned to their respective districts, soon spread the spirit of discontent and proclaimed the American usurper to be as dangerous as the European despot.

In November, General Garza headed a revolt in the northern provinces.

SANTA ANNA, then governor of Vera Cruz, declared against the emperor.

General Echavari, sent by Iturbide to crush the future president of Mexico, resolved not to stem the torrent of public opinion, and joined the general he had been commissioned to capture. Guadalupe Victoria,--driven to his fastnesses by the emperor, who was unable to win the incorruptible patriot, descended once more from the mountain forests, where he had been concealed, and joined the battalions of Santa Anna. And, on the 1st of February, 1823, a convention, called the "Act of Casa-Mata," was signed, by which the re-establishment of the National Representative a.s.sembly was pledged.

The country was soon in arms. The Marques Vibanco, Generals Guerrero, Bravo, and Negrete, in various sections of the nation, proclaimed their adhesion to the popular movement; and on the 8th of March, 1823, Iturbide, finding that the day was lost, offered his abdication to such members of the old congress as he was able to a.s.semble hastily in the metropolis. The abdication was, however, twice refused on the ground that congress, by accepting it, would necessarily sanction the legality of his right to wear the crown; nevertheless, that body permitted his departure from Mexico, after endowing him liberally with an income of twenty-five thousand dollars a year, besides providing a vessel to bear him and his family to Leghorn in Italy.

Victoria, Bravo, and Negrete entered the capital on the 27th of March, and were chosen by the old congress which quickly rea.s.sembled, as a triumvirate to exercise supreme executive powers until the new congress a.s.sembled in the following August. In October, 1824, this body finally sanctioned the federal const.i.tution, which, after various revolutions, overthrows, and reforms, was readopted in the year 1847.

On the 14th of July, 1824, a vessel under British colors was perceived on the Mexican coast near the mouth of the Santander. On the next day, a Polish gentlemen came on sh.o.r.e from the ship, and, announcing himself as Charles de Beneski, visited General Felix la Garza, commandant of the district of Soto la Marina. He professed to visit that remote district, with a friend, for the purpose of purchasing land from the government on which they designed establishing a colony.

Garza gave them leave to enter the country for this purpose; but suspicions were soon aroused against the singular visitors and they were arrested. As soon as the friend of the Pole was stripped of his disguise, the Emperor Iturbide stood in front of Garza, whom he had disgraced for his partic.i.p.ation in the revolt during his brief reign.

La Garza immediately secured the prisoner, and sent him to Padilla, where he delivered him to the authorities of Tamaulipas. The state legislature being in session, promptly resolved, in the excess of patriotic zeal, to execute a decree of the congress, pa.s.sed in the preceding April, by condemning the royal exile to death. Short time was given Iturbide to arrange his affairs. He was allowed no appeal to the general government. He confessed to a priest on the evening of the 19th of July, and was led to the place of execution, where he fell, pierced with four b.a.l.l.s, two of which took effect in his brain and two in his heart!

Thus perished the hero who, suddenly, unexpectedly, and effectually, crushed the power of Spain in North America. It is not fair to judge him by the standards that are generally applied to the life of a distinguished civilian, or even of a successful soldier, in countries where the habits and education of the people fit them for duties requiring forbearance, patience, or high intellectual culture. Iturbide was, according to all reliable accounts, a refined gentleman, yet he was tyrannical and sometimes cruel, for it is recorded in his own handwriting, that on Good Friday, 1814, "in honor of the day, he had just ordered three hundred excommunicated wretches to be shot!" His early life was pa.s.sed in the saddle and the barrack room; nor had he much leisure to pursue the studies of a statesman, even if his mind had been capable of resolving all their mysteries. His temper was not calculated for the liberal debates of a free senate. He was better fitted to discipline an army than to guide a nation. Educated in a school in which subordination is a necessity, and where unquestioning obedience is exacted, he was unable to appreciate the rights of deliberative a.s.semblies. He felt, perhaps, that, in the disorganized condition of his country, it was needful to control the people by force in order to save the remnant of civilization from complete anarchy. But he wanted conciliatory manners to seduce the congress into obedience to his behests,--and he therefore unfortunately and unwisely played the military despot when he should have acted the part of a quiet diplomatist. Finding himself, in two years, emperor of Mexico, after being, at the commencement of that period, nothing more than commander of a regiment, it may be pardoned if he was bewildered by the rapidity of his rise, and if the air he breathed in his extraordinary ascent was too etherial for a man of so excitable a temperament.

In every aspect of his character, we must regard him as one altogether inadequate to shape the destiny of a nation emerging from the blood and smoke of two revolutions,--a nation whose political tendencies towards absolute freedom, were at that time, naturally, the positive reverse of his own.

Death sealed the lips of men who might have clamored for him in the course of a few years, when the insubordinate spirit that was soon manifested needed as bold an arm as that of Iturbide, in his best days, to check or guide it. Public opinion was decidedly opposed to his sudden and cruel slaughter. Mexicans candidly acknowledged that their country's independence was owing to him; and whilst they admitted that Garza's zeal for the emperor's execution might have been lawful, they believed that revenge for his former disgrace, rather than patriotism, induced the rash and ruthless soldier to hasten the death of the n.o.ble victim whom fortune had thrown in his lonely path.

[Ill.u.s.tration: (Signature--Augustine de Iturbide)]

CHAPTER V.

1824-1829.

REVIEW OF THE CONDITION OF MEXICO AND THE FORMATION OF PARTIES.--VICEROYAL GOVERNMENT--THE PEOPLE--THE ARMY--THE CHURCH.--CONSt.i.tUTION OF 1824.--ECHAVARI REVOLTS.--VICTORIA PRESIDENT--ESCOCESSES--YORKINOS--REVOLTS CONTINUED.-- MONTAYNO--GUERRERO.--GOMEZ PEDRAZA PRESIDENT--IS OVERTHROWN.--FEDERALISTS--CENTRALISTS--GUERRERO PRESIDENT.--ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN MEXICO.

We must pause a moment over the past history of Mexico, for the portion we now approach has few of the elements either of union or patriotism which characterized the early struggles for national independence. The revolutionary war had merited and received the commendation of freemen throughout the world. The prolonged struggle exhibited powers of endurance, an unceasing resolution, and a determination to throw off European thraldom, which won the respect of those northern powers on this continent who were most concerned in securing to themselves a republican neighborhood. But, as soon as the dominion of Spain was crushed, the domestic quarrels of Mexico began, and we have already shown that in the three parties formed in the first congress, were to be found the germs of all the feuds that have since vexed the republic or impeded its successful progress towards national grandeur. After the country had been so long a battle field, it was perhaps difficult immediately to accustom the people to civil rule or to free them from the baleful influence which military glory is apt to throw round individuals who render important services to their country in war. Even in our own union, where the ballot box instead of the bayonet has always controlled elections, and where loyalty to the const.i.tution would blast the effort of ambitious men to place a conqueror in power by any other means than that of peaceful election, we constantly find how difficult it is to screen the people's eyes from the bewildering glare of military glory. What then could we expect from a country in which the self-relying, self-ruling, civil idea never existed at any period of its previous history? The revolution of the North American colonies was not designed to obtain liberty, for they were already free; but it was excited and successfully pursued in order to prevent the burthensome and aggressive impositions of England which would have curtailed that freedom, and, reduced us to colonial dependence as well as royal or ministerial dictation. Mexico, on the contrary, had never been free.

Spain regarded the country as a mine which was to be diligently wrought, and the ma.s.ses of the people as acclimated serfs whose services were the legitimate perquisites of a court and aristocracy beyond the sea. There had been, among the kings and viceroys who controlled the destinies of New Spain, men who were swayed by just and amiable views of colonial government; but the majority considered Mexico as a speculation rather than an infant colony whose progressive destiny it was their duty to foster with all the care and wisdom of Christian magistrates. The minor officials misruled and peculated, as we have related in our introductory sketch of the viceroyal government. They were all men of the hour, and, even the viceroys themselves, regarded their governments on the American continent as rewards for services in Europe, enabling them to secure fortunes with which they returned to the Castilian court, forgetful of the Indian miner and agriculturist from whose sweat their wealth was coined. The Spaniard never identified himself with Mexico. His _home_ was on the other side of the Atlantic. Few of the best cla.s.s formed permanent establishments in the viceroyalty; and all of them were too much interested in maintaining both the state of society and the _castes_ which had been created by the conquerors, to spend a thought upon the amelioration of the people. We do not desire to blacken, by our commentary, the fame of a great nation like that of Spain; yet this dreary but true portrait of national selfishness has been so often verified by all the colonial historians of America, and especially by Pazo and Zavala, in their admirable historical sketches of Castilian misrule, that we deem it fair to introduce these palliations of Mexican misconduct since the revolution.[63]

The people of New Spain were poor and uneducated,--the aristocracy was rich, supercilious, and almost equally illiterate. It was a society without a middle ground,--in which gold stood out in broad relief against rags. Was such a state of barbaric semi-civilization ent.i.tled or fitted to emerge at once into republicanism? Was it to be imagined that men who had always been controlled, could learn immediately to control themselves? Was it to be believed that the military personages, whose ambition is as proverbial as it is natural, would voluntarily surrender the power they possessed over the ma.s.ses, and retire to the obscurity and poverty of private life when they could enjoy the wealth and influence of political control, so long as they maintained their rank in the army? This would have been too much to expect from the self-denial of creole chiefs; nor is it surprising to behold the people themselves looking towards these very men as proper persons to consolidate or shape the government they had established. It was the most natural thing conceivable to find Iturbide, Guerrero, Bustamante, Negrete, Bravo, Santa Anna, Paredes, and the whole host of revolutionary heroes succeeding each other in power, either const.i.tutionally or by violence.

The people knew no others. The military idea,--military success,--a name won in action, and repeated from lip to lip until the traditionary sound became a household word among the herdsmen, rancheros, vaqueros and Indians,--these were the sources of Mexican renown or popularity, and the appropriate objects of political reward and confidence. What individual among the four or five millions of Indians knew anything of the statesmen of their country who had never mixed in the revolutionary war or in the domestic brawls constantly occurring. There were no gazettes to spread their fame or merit, and even if there had been, the people were unable to buy or peruse them. Among the mixed breeds, and lower cla.s.s of creoles, an equal degree of ignorance prevailed;--and thus, from the first epoch of independence, the PEOPLE ceased to be a true republican tribunal in Mexico, while the city was surrendered as the battle field of all the political aspirants who had won reputations in the camp which were to serve them for other purposes in the capital.

By this means the army rose to immediate significance and became the general arbiter in all political controversies. Nor was the church,--that other overshadowing influence in all countries in which religion and the state are combined,--a silent spectator in the division of national power. The Roman Hierarchy, a large landholder,--as will be hereafter seen in our statistical view of the country,--had much at stake in Mexico, besides the mere authority which so powerful a body is always anxious to maintain over the consciences of the mult.i.tude. The church was, thus, a political element of great strength; and, combined with the army, created and sustained an important party, which has been untiring in its efforts to support _centralism_, as the true political principle of Mexican government.

On the 4th of October, 1824, a federal const.i.tution, framed partly upon the model of the const.i.tution of the United States, with some grafts from the Spanish const.i.tution, was adopted by Congress; and, by it, the territory comprehended in the old viceroyalty of New Spain, the Captaincy General of Yucatan, the commandancies of the eastern and western Internal Provinces, Upper and Lower California, with the lands and isles adjacent in both seas, were placed under the protection of this organic law. The religion of the Mexican nation was declared to be, in perpetuity, the Catholic Apostolic Roman; and the nation pledged its protection, at the same time prohibiting the exercise of any other!

Previous, however, to these const.i.tutional enactments the country had not been entirely quiet, for as early as January of this year, General Echavari, who occupied the state of Puebla, raised the standard of revolt against the Triumvirate. This seditious movement was soon suppressed by the staunch old warrior, Guerrero, who seized and bore the insurgent chief to the capital as a prisoner. Another insurrection, occurred not long after in Cuernavaca, which was also quelled by Guerrero. Both of these outbreaks were caused by the centralists, who strove to put down by violence the popular desire for the federal system. Instead of destroying the favorite charter, however, they only served to cement the sections, who sustained liberal doctrines in the different provinces or states of the nation, and finally, aided materially in enforcing the adoption of the federal system.

Another insurrection occurred in the city of Mexico, growing out of the old and national animosity between the creoles and the European Spaniards. The expulsion of the latter from all public employments was demanded by the creoles of the capital, backed by the garrison commanded by Colonels Lobato and Staboli. The revolt was suppressed at the moment; but it was deemed advisable to conciliate feeling in regard to the unfortunate foreigners; and, accordingly, changes were made in the departments, in which the offices were given to native Mexicans, whilst the Spaniards were allowed a pension for life of one-third of their pay. At this period, moreover, the supreme executive power was altered, and Nicolas Bravo, Vicente Guerrero, and Miguel Dominguez, were appointed to control public affairs until a president was elected under the new const.i.tution.

Early in 1825, the general congress a.s.sembled in the city of Mexico.

Guadalupe Victoria was declared president, and Nicolas Bravo vice president. The national finances were recruited by a loan from England; and a legislative effort was made to narrow the influence of the priesthood, according to the just limits it should occupy in a republic.

All Spanish America had been in a ferment for several years, and the power of Castile was forever broken on this continent. Peru, as well as Mexico, had cast off the bonds of dependence, for the brilliant battle of Ayacucho rescued the republican banner from the danger with which for a while it was menaced. The European forces had never been really formidable, except for their superior discipline and control under royalist leaders,--but they were now driven out of the heart of the continent,--whilst the few pertinacious troops and generals who still remained, were confined to the coasts of Mexico, Peru, and Chili, where they clung to the fortress of San Juan de Ulua, the castle of Callao, and the strongholds of Chiloe.

Victoria was sworn into office on the 15th of April, 1825. Several foreign nations had already recognized the independence of Mexico, or soon hastened to do so; for all were eager to grasp a share of the commerce and mines which they imagined had been so profitable to Spain. The British, especially, who had become holders of Mexican bonds, were particularly desirous to open commercial intercourse and to guard it by international treaties.

In the winter of 1826, it was discovered, by the discussions in congress of projects for their suppression, that the party leaders, fearing an open attempt to conduct their unconst.i.tutional machinations, had sought the concealment of masonic inst.i.tutions in which they might foster their antagonistic schemes. The rival lodges were designated as Escocesses and Yorkinos, the former numbering among its members the vice president Nicolas Bravo, Gomez Pedraza, and Jose Montayno, while the Yorkinos boasted of Generals Victoria, Santa Anna, Guerrero, Lorenzo de Zavala, and Bustamante. The adherents of the Escocesses were said to be in favor of a limited monarchy with a Spanish prince at its head; but the Yorkinos maintained the supremacy of the const.i.tution and declared themselves hostile to all movements of a central character. The latter party was, by far, the most numerous. The intelligent liberals of all cla.s.ses sustained it; yet its leaders had to contend with the dignitaries of the church, the opulent agriculturists, land holders and miners, and many of the higher officers of the army whose names had been identified with the early struggles of the independents against the Spaniards.

These party discussions, mainly excited by the personal ambitions of the disputants, which were carried on not only openly in congress, but secretly in the lodges, absorbed for a long time, the entire attention of the selfish but intelligent persons who should have forgotten themselves in the holy purpose of consolidating the free and republican principles of the const.i.tution of 1824. The result of this personal warfare was soon exhibited in the total neglect of popular interests, so far as they were to be fostered or advanced by the action of congress.

The states, however, were in some degree, free from these internecine contests; for the boldest of the various leaders, and the most ambitious aspirants for power, had left the provinces to settle their quarrels in the capital. This was fortunate for the country, inasmuch as the states were in some measure recompensed by their own care of the various domestic industrial interests for the neglect they suffered at the hands of national legislators.

At the close of 1827, Colonel Jose Montayno, a member of the Escocesses, proclaimed, in Otumba, the plan which in the history of Mexican _p.r.o.nunciamientos_, or revolts, is known by the name of this leader. Another attempt of a similar character had been previously made, against the federative system and in favor of centralism, by Padre Arenas; but both of these outbreaks were not considered dangerous, until Bravo denounced president Victoria for his union with the Yorkinos, and, taking arms against the government, joined the rebels in Tulancingo, where he declared himself in favor of the central plan of Montayno. The country was aroused. The insurgents appeared in great strength. The army exhibited decided symptoms of favor towards the revolted party; and the church strengthened the elements of discontent by its secret influence with the people. Such was the revolutionary state of Mexico, when the patriot Guerrero was once more summoned by the executive to use his energetic efforts in quelling the insurrection. Nor was he unsuccessful in his loyal endeavors to support the const.i.tution. As soon as he marched against the insurgents, they dispersed throughout the country; so that, without bloodshed, he was enabled to crush the revolt and save the nation from the civil war. Thus, amid the embittered quarrels of parties, who had actually designed to transfer their contests from congress and lodges to the field of battle, terminated the administration of Guadalupe Victoria, the first president of Mexico.

His successor, Gomez Pedraza, the candidate of the Escocesses, was elected by a majority of but two votes over his compet.i.tor, Guerrero, the representative of the liberal Yorkinos.

These internal discontents of Mexico began to inspire the Spanish court with hope that its estranged colony would be induced, or perhaps easily compelled, after a short time, to return to its allegiance; and, accordingly, it was soon understood in Mexico, even during Victoria's administration, that active efforts were making in Cuba to raise an adequate force for another attempt upon the republic. This, for a moment, restrained the fraternal hands raised against each other within the limits of Mexico, and forced all parties to unite against the common danger from abroad. Suitable measures were taken to guard the coasts where an attack was most imminent, and it was the good fortune of the government to secure the services of Commodore Porter, a distinguished officer of the United States Navy, who commanded the Mexican squadron most effectively for the protection of the sh.o.r.es along the gulf, and took a number of Spanish vessels, even in the ports of Cuba, some of which were laden with large and costly cargoes.