successful, and a refugee, he managed for several years to create revolutions and counter-revolutions. repress the demonstrations under Santa

To

the Spanish constitution. They succeeded in realizing their views to a certain extent, but the system was badly understood, and the loose manner in which it was obeyed, indicated the shortness of its duration. There were some who conceived that it ought to undergo modifications, inasmuch as the constitution framed by the Cortes at Cadiz was inapplicable to' New Spain.' Others there were who sighed after the old absolute government, as the best support of their lucrative employments, which they exercised in a despotic manner, and by which they had gained a monopoly. The privileged and powerful classes fomented these different parties, attaching themselves to the one or the other, according to the extent of their political information, or the projects of aggrandizement which their imaginations presented. The Americans wished for independence, but they were not agreed as to the mode of effecting it, still less as to the form of government which they should prefer. With respect to the former object, many were of opinion that in the first place, all the Europeans should be exterminated, and their property given up to confiscation. The less sanguinary would have been contented with banishing them from the country, thus reducing thousands of families to a state of orphanage. The moderate party suggested only that they should be excluded from all public offices, and degraded to the condition in which they had kept the natives of the country for three centuries. As to the form of government, one party proposed a monarchy, tempered by the Spanish, or some other constitution; a second party wished for a federative republic; a third for a central republic; and the partisans of each system, full of enthusiasm, were impatient for the accomplishment of their different objects.

"I had friends in the principal towns, many of whom had been long connected with my family; others I had known in my expeditions, and during the period when I held my command. The army, I had reason to believe, was strongly attached to me. All those who knew me did their utmost to supply me with information. I had visited the best provinces, obtained accurate information as to the nature of the country and the character of the inhabitants, the points capable of being fortified, and the resources upon which dependence might be placed. I saw new revolutions on the eve of breaking out; my country was about to be drenched in blood; I was led to believe that I had the power to save her, and I did not hesitate to undertake so sacred a duty.

"I formed my plan, known under the title of the plan of Iguala.'

Anna, Bustamente, then President of Mexico, dispatched General Calderon with an effective force, who defeated Santa Anna on the 3d of March at

pamphlet, which I have seen, has asserted that that project was the work of a club of serviles, who held their meeting at the profesa, a building belonging to the congregation of St. Philip, in Mexico. Any person who reads the document must be convinced, from its contents alone, that it could not have been dictated by servilism; I put out of the question the opinions of those persons to whom it is attributed, and shall only say that they are matters upon which the multitude is very commonly mistaken. For me, I look upon those persons as men eminently respectable for their virtues and their knowledge. After the plan had been drawn out, I consulted upon it with distinguished individuals of different parties; not one of them disapproved of it; it was not modified in any manner; nothing was added or erased.

"In tracing out this project, my aim was to give independence to my country, because such was the general desire of the Americans; a desire founded on natural feelings, and on principles of justice. It was, besides, the only means by which the interests of the two nations could be secured. The Spaniards would not allow themselves to be convinced that their decline began with their acquisition of the colonies, while the colonists were fully persuaded that the time of their emancipation had arrived.

"The plan of Iguala guarantied the religion which we inherited from our ancestors. To the reigning family of Spain, it held out the only prospect which survived for preserving those extensive and fertile provinces. To the Mexicans, it granted the right of enacting their own laws, and of having their government established within their own territory. To the Spaniards, it offered an asylum, which, if they had possessed any foresight, they would not have despised. It secured the rights of equality, of property, and of liberty, the knowledge of which is within the reach of every one, and the possession of which, when once acquired, every man would exert all his power to preserve. The plan of Iguala extinguished the odious distinction of castes, offered to every stranger safety, convenience, and hospitality; it left the road to advancement open to merit; conciliated the good opinion of every reasonable man; and opposed an impenetrable barrier to the machinations of the discontented.

"The operation of putting the plan into execution was crowned with the happy result which I had anticipated. Six months were sufficient to untwist the entangled knot which had bound the two worlds. Without bloodshed, without fire, robbery, devastation, without a tear, my country was free, and transformed from a colony into an empire. In order to ren

Talome, and besieged him in the city of Vera Cruz. Fortune, however, did not long desert him. Calderon was forced to retreat. Bustamente resigned

der the work conformable to received customs, only one additional circumstance was required—a treaty, which the diplomatists would add to the long catalogue of those which they already possess, and which commonly turn out to be only so many proofs of the bad faith of men, as they are not seldom violated when it is the interest of one of the parties, and he happens to be the strongest. Nevertheless, it is right to follow the laws of custom. On the 24th of August, I had an interview with that most worthy Spanish general, Don Juan de O'Donoju; and on the same day was concluded between us a treaty, which bears the name of the place where it was signed, and was sent off to his majesty, Ferdinand VII., by an officer of O'Donoju's suit.

"The treaty of Cordova opened to me the gates of the capital, which otherwise I could have forced. But it is always delightful to me to be spared the necessity of exposing my men, and of shedding the blood of those who have been my companions in arms.

"There were persons who raised questions on the treaty of Cordova, by doubting my authority, as well as that of O'Donoju, to enter into a compact upon a matter of so much delicacy. It would be easy to answer them, by saying that in me was deposited the will of the Mexican people at that period; in the first place, because that which I signed in their name was conformable to what they must have desired; and secondly, because they had already given proofs of their sentiments; such as were able to bear arms, by joining me, and others by assisting me in every way which lay in their power. In every place through which I passed, I was received in the most enthusiastic manner. Seeing that no one was forced to exhibit these demonstrations, it is to be inferred that they approved of my intentions, and that their ideas accorded with mine. With respect to General O'Donoju, he was the principal authority furnished with credentials from his Government, and even though he might not have received specific instructions for that particular case, the circumstances authorized him to do the best he could for his country.

"Had this general commanded an army superior to mine, and possessed resources sufficient to enable him to carry on war against me, he might have properly refused to sign the treaty of Cordova, without first communicating with his Government, and receiving its answer. But attended as he was with scarcely a dozen officers, the whole country being in my power, his mission being adverse to the sentiments of the people, unable to procure intelligence of the state of things, without any

the Presidency, and was succeeded by Pedraza. In 1833, Santa Anna himself was elected President of Mexico. The dissolution of Congress by the Pre

knowledge of the localities, shut up in a weak fortress, which was ex posed to our fire, with an army in front of him, and the few troops of the king who had remained in Mexico, commanded by an intrusive chief; under such circumstances, let those persons who disapprove of the conduct of O'Donoju say what they would have done if they had been in his place, or what they imagine he ought to have done? He must have signed the treaty of Cordova, or have become my prisoner, or have returned to Spain! he had no other alternative. If he had chosen either of the latter, all his countrymen would have been compromised, and the Government of Spain would have lost every hope of those advantages which it then obtained; advantages which it never would have acquired, if I had not been in the command, and if O'Donoju had not been an able politician as well as a faithful Spaniard.

"I entered Mexico on the 27th of September, 1821; on the same day was installed the Junta of Government which is spoken of in the plan of Iguala, and the treaty of Cordova. It was nominated by me, but not according to my arbitrary choice; for I wished to assemble together such men of every party as enjoyed the highest reputation amongst their friends. This was the only means which could be resorted to in such extraordinary circumstances for consulting the public opinion.

"Up to this point my measures gained general approbation, and in no instance were my hopes deceived. But as soon as the junta began to exercise its functions, it perverted the powers which had been granted to it; and within a few days after its installation, I saw what was likely to be the issue. From that moment I shuddered for the fate that awaited my fellow-citizens. It was in my power to resume the whole authority, and I asked myself, ought I not to resume it, if such a step be essential to the safety of my country? I considered, however, that it would have been rash in me to resolve on undertaking such an enterprise, relying solely on my own judgment. If I were to consult with others, my design might transpire, and intentions, which had sprung solely from my love for my country, and from a desire to promote its happiness, might be attributed to ambitious views, and construed into a violation of my promise. Besides, even if I were to accomplish every thing which I proposed, I could not have done it without infringing on the plan of Iguala, which it was my great object to maintain, because I looked upon it as the ægis of the public welfare. These were the true reasons which, together with others of less importance, restrained me from taking any de

sident was quickly followed by a change in the form of government. The State Legislatures were dissolved, and a Central Government, whole and in

cisive measures. They would have brought me into collision with the favorite feelings of the cultivated nations of the world, and have rendered me, for some time, an object of hatred to a set of men, who were infatuated by chimerical ideas, and who had never learned, or had soon forgotten, that the republic which was most jealous of its liberty, possessed also its dictators. I may add, that I have always endeavored to be consistent in my principles; and as I had proposed to form a junta, I fulfilled my promise, and was reluctant to undo the work of my own hands.

“There were at this time some deputies in Mexico who set little value on the public happiness, when it is opposed to their private interest, and who had acquired reputation by some actions that appeared generous to those who were benefited by them without knowing the secret views by which they had been prompted. They were well acquainted with the mysteries of intrigue, ever ready to stoop to servility when they found it expedient, and to assume insolence when their star was in the ascendant. These men disliked me because I had hitherto been successful in my career, and they began to foment those parties which were afterwards known under the titles of Republicans and Bourbonists, and which, however they differed on other points, were united in their opposition

to me.

"The republicans were hostile to me, because they well knew they could never bring me to contribute to the establishment of a government, which, whatever might be its attractions, did not suit the Mexicans. Nature produces nothing by sudden leaps; she operates by intermediate degrees. The moral world follows the laws of the physical. To think that we could emerge all at once from a state of debasement, such as that of slavery, and from a state of ignorance, such as had been inflicted upon us for three hundred years, during which we had neither books nor instructors, and the possession of knowledge had been thought a sufficient cause for persecution; to think that we could gain information and refinement in a moment, as if by enchantment; that we could acquire every virtue, forget prejudices, and give up false pretensions, was a vain expectation, and could only have entered into the visions of an enthusiast.

"The Bourbonists, on the other hand, wished for my fall, because, as soon as the decision of the government of Madrid was made known, through its decree of the 13th of February, which was subsequently transmitted by the minister for the colonies, and in which the conduct of O'Donoju was formally disapproved, the treaty of Cordova became null