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PAPERS oF MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
were compelled to treat with their opponents. When this was done the inhabitant(> of all parties and classes petitioned Iturbide not to perm.it Santa Anna to enter the city with his troops, (so hated was he by all), and to appoint JHanuel Rincon Governor of the place. Itur- bide granted the request, and this was the cause of the deep enmity which afterwards existed between the two commanders, Rincon and Santa Anna. After the surrender of Veracruz, Santa Ann!!, left for Mexico City, where he played a leading part among the courtiers, surpassing all in his villainous praises of Iturbide. He flattered him one moment and betrayed him the next. As the fall of the liberator is connected with the history of our hero, it would not be out of place to get a retro- spective view of his sudden rise. We shall devote ourselves to this in the following chapter. CHAPTER V. Political parties after the revolution. Their different purposes. Iturbide appoints a legislative Junta of thirty-six members. They create a regency with Iturbide at its head as General-in-Chief. Congress assembles. It divides into parties. Disagreement between Iturbide and Congress. Davila decides on a counter revolution. He accepts the regency in a secret session of Congress. Yanes accuses Iturbide. The Commander-in-Chief contradicts the charge ancl accuses some of the members of Congress. General confusion. Iturbide retires. The regency changes. Congress reduces the army. Iturbide incites the soldiers to proclaim him Emperor. Great disturbance in the Capital. The soldiers ancl the people force Congress to confirm Iturbide's appointment as Emperor. His coronation. CHAPTER Y. The jealousies and enmity of the different classes and parties did not die with the Plan of Iguala, nor did it cause them to abandon their respective principles and claims. The hostile parties united solely for the purpose of co-operating in favor of the independence of the country, and it made them withhold and constrain their private views and political designs until the common end was attained. We see, there- fore, that as soon as independence was established~ these antagonistic parties began to fight against each other; each attempting to carry out his plans and govern the nation according to his own ideas. The Roy- alists desired that the throne be given to the Bourbons of Spain; the natives were opposed to this policy, and insisted on establishing a re- publican government founded upon a federal system, while Iturbide had his eyes fixed on the imperial crown. Here again are the seeds of ·discord from which sprouted all the misfortunes that afflicted the country. The plan of Iguala and the treaty of Cordova required that a pro- visional government be organized and a constitution formed before the, Royal family should take the throne. In accordance with this stipu-. lation Iturbide appointed a legislative ,hmta composed of thirty-six members the same day that he entered the city; and his Junta named an executive regency of five persons and appointed Iturbide president. He also placed himself at the head of the naval armada and the army as admiral and Commander-in-Chief with a salary of $120,000 a year.. The following were the members of the regency: Barcena, Perez;. Bishop of Puebla, Vasquez de Leon and Yanes. Iturbide, rnoveover,.
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