defend it, the party injured acquires an authority, and may extend his jurisdiction over it; that much more so may that distinct portion of a large Stale which is found adhering to a written constitution, while the rest are separated into revolting factions, be entitled lo an exclusive control over her own limits and people, because the Stale has not only failed lo protect that particular portion of the country, but has taken part in a revolution to overthrow the very principles she was pledged lo support. Texas, instead of rising in arms against Mexico, is said to have remained adhering to the republican system, while Mexico has deserted it. Arguments are used, based upon the history of Mexico, Lo show that her citizens proper were never capable of appreciating liberty in its political American sense; and that her pretended institutions of liberal government and laws, from the time of her separation from Spain to the present clay, have exited only in theforms of delusive promises, that were always broken to the hope. The first important act of the first President, after the separation from Spain, was, to bring the Government back to an order of things more oppressive than that f it ancient rulers; and Iturbide, instead of continuing as President of a republic, regenerated a monarchy, and proclaimed himself an emperor. Either from an imagined love for freedom vaguely understood, a belief that a,constitutional government could be adapted to the habits and notions of the people, or from restless ambition, it seems that General Santa Anna was the first to overthrow the imperial government; the first to aid in the establishment of a republic; and, finaUy, the first in its destruction. The o·nly President who has been permitted to exercise his functions for the appointed time, and who has retired to the shades, if not the enjoyment of private life, unscathed by revolutions, was Victoria, the successor of Iturbide. Manuel Gomez Pedraza was elected hy a small majority over General Guerrero; but Santa Anna, at the head of the military, declared the election void, and proclaimed Guerrero President. Pedraza fled, and Guerrero was confirmed by Congress. He was invested with the powers of a dictator; and, refusing to lay them down, Anastasio Bustamente assumed the presidency, and Guerrero was shot. Bustamente was in favor of a consolidated form of . government, and General Santa Anna for a complete republic. The
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