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PAPERS OF :MIRABEAU BUONAPARTE luUIAR
sequently, he resolved to take possession by force and without further delay, of that which he no longer hoped to obtain by peaceful means. Knowing that Iturbide depended upon the veteran soldiers to carry out his ambitious designs, Congress very wisely passed a law tq reduce the army, and, at the same time, to take away the command from the executive power. There was a great deal of wisdom and prudence in these measures prescinding the immediate effect which they had in constraining the Commander-in-Chief in his usurpations. They left Iturbide no alternative but to speedily put his plans into execution. A moment's delay would have dealt a death blow to his hopes. The soldiers were already prepared for the movement and only awaited the commander's signal to begin their work of disorder and· violence. The signal was given on the night of the 18th of :May, and the garrison in the City, commanded by a sergeant named Pio 1\Iarcha, left for Iturbide's house crying: "Long live Augustin I !" "Long liv_e the Emperor of Mexico!" An immense crowd of lepers and people from the suburbs joined him almost in a moment and thronged the streets like savage beasts, denouncing Congress and singing hosannas to the Emperor. The noise of the fire-arms, the cries of the crowd, and the brightness of the torches which burned in the streets converted the city into a frightful pandemonium. All, therefore, who had op- posed the pretensions of Iturbide trembled that night. iiany persons fled for their lives, and others burned their homes to avoid being con- sidered enemies. The disorder, shouting and disturbance continued .until the next day, when Iturbide appeared wearing a hypocritical ex- pression of sorrow and stated that he lamented the fact that such a. scene should have taken place, and that he certainly had not wished them to make him Emperor and would not have accepted the office but for the fact that he had been informed that bis life would be en- dangered should he refuse it. This so resembled exaggeration that we consider it our duty to free ourselves from such imputation by copy- ing Iturbide's own words. In the memoirs written by himself he said: "My first desire was to appear and declare my determination not to yield to the votes of the people. If I abstained from doing this, it was only because it seemed wiser to defer to the advice of a friend who was with me at that time. He barely had time to tell me. 'Yours will be considered not a consent, but an insult, and the people do not know any limit when they are aroused.' The friend to whom he al- ludes was his minister, Don Jose 1\Ianuel de Herrera, who had been sent by Morelos as agent, to New Orleans, and who afterwards took part in the downfall of Iturbide and the destruction of Guerrero. Iturbide affected to consider the cry of the soldiery and the clamour of the Lepers, (which was his work) as the voice of the nation, and in virtu~ of this fact he claimed to be as much an emperor as the autocrat of the Russians. The day after this disturbance Congress assembled as usual with the exception of Tagoaga, Tagle, Odoarclo, Rej6n, del Valle, Sanches, Castellanos and several other members who did not at- tend for the reason that they did not want to contribute to an act which they could not approve and which they would not have been permitted to oppose. While that body was discussing the validity of the pretensions, or better stated, the singular appointment of the bud- ding Emperor, the soldiery and populace, armed, entered the gallery
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