242
TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
the convocation . law was being discussed, the provinces, one after an- other, declared themselves States. These acts ended the tasks of the old Congress, and the new Congress was installed in the month of October, 1823 exactly one year after the arbitrary dissolution of the first one. This had scarcely occurred, when a violent discussion took place in regard to the form of government to be adopted. The old parties dissolved and formed new ones. The Iturbidists and ·nour- bonists having been excluded from the election, there was no longer any monarchical party. The assembly was divided into Federal Re- publicans and Centralists. These were the names of the two great opposing parties in the nation, and the members of the old parties joined one or the other of these divisions. The Iturbidists joined with the Federalists, that is to say, the party that was in favor of a con- federation of states similar to that of the American Union, while the Bourbonists identified themselves with the Anti-Federalists, or that party which desired to establish a central government. To the latter party belonged the aristocracy, the clergy, and the army, commanded by Bravo, Negrete, Alaman, Pedraza, Echavarri, Fagoaga, Tagle and others, while the 9ther party was composed of the great mass of the people whose principal champions were Victoria, Guerrero, Zavala, Farias, Rej6n and others. Bustamante and Barragan also declared for the federation. Santa Anna declared in favor of himself and embraced first one and then the other, according as he was able to ob- tain a following. Such were affairs in the beginning, but how will we find them in the end? '\Vho knows? We consider these two great antagonistic organizations as the personifications of liberty and des- potism, and we believe that the destinies of the country were no less involved in this struggle than in the one which assured independence. The Federal party composed a majority, not only in Congress, but also in the nation. The demand of the provinces, or states, as they called themselves, was imperative for Congress to form a government founded upun the federal system, and with the purpose of calming the anxiety ·of the people upon this point, that body published what was called the Constitution Act, recognizing the independence of the States, religious intolerance, the forces of the clergy and the soldiery, and embracing other matters which were in accord with the known desires of the people. This act should be considered as a part of the Con- stitution which the Congress was busily making. It was published in January 1824, and was received with general enthusiasm as a guar- antee that the Government would be such as the nation desired. Congress progressed slowly in its deliberations on account of the obstacles which were continually presented to its progress by the Cen- tralists who hoped to obtain an advantage through delay. They had not lost hope of producing a counter-revolution in favor of their. prin- ciples, and they undertook to retard the business of Congress in order to gain time for their se<;ret operations. The provinces, alarmed by this delay, clamored ·for a constitution. The confidence which the Con- stitutional Act bacl inspired disappeared, and the Republicans began to fear that the intrigues and machinations of the Centralists would finally triumph. Congress, not having sufficient time to complete the Constitution which was awaited with such eagerness, and being like- wise desirous of appeasing the public, issued two decrees in August,
Powered by FlippingBook