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TEXAS STA'fE LIBRARY
Such are the great outlines of a System of tyranny pursued by Spain in the government of her Colonies for three centuries; in all which we can discover nothing but the most outrageous and unrelenting invasion of human rights on record; and the whole unrelieved by one solitary example of generosity or the slightest manifestation of simpathy for human misery.- That Spain should have been able, in an age of bigotry and superstition, to enforce her rapacious policy, and detain the people in a miserable state of dependence and mental darkness, is not to be wondered at; but that she should have been able to continue that policy down to the enlightened period of the nineteenth century, is certainly a matter of profound astonishment; and serves to shew how spiritless-how abject-how degraded a people may become through the combined eff?rts of a despotic government and a poluted Church.- CHAPTER 2nd BEGINNING OF THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION It is known to the intelligent reader that, in. consequence of the in- surrection of Aranjues, occasioned by the popular indignation against the :Minister, Godoy, commonly called the Prince of Peace, the Old King Charles the Fourth of Spain was constrained to resign his crown to his son Ferdinand. This he did on the 20th March 1808. Greatly dissatisfied, however with the act, he preferred his complaints to the Emperor of the French, invoking his friendly interposition and pro- testing a15ainst the abdication on the ground that he had been forced into it, by the temporary fury of the populace. Under the pretense of adjusting the family fued, Napoleon inveigled both father and son to Bayonne, where he immediately made them prisoners-thus availing himself of the opportunity of carrying into execution a project which he had long contemplated-that of placing his brother Joseph upon the throne of Spain. With a view to this end, he had already sent :Murat with a large army to l\f.adrid as a pretended friend and ally of the country. While the people of Spain were waiting with breathless anxiety to hear the result of the proceedings at Bayonne, an order ar- rived from Napoleon, demanding the immediate presence of the Queen Etruria and her children in that place.- The populace, until that moment, had abstained from any violent manifestations of their ire; but when they saw the queen and her family depart for Bayonne, which they did on the 2nd of May, they were no longer able to restrain their feelings; and accordingly precipitated themselves upon the soldiers of Murat, with the utmost fury and enthusiasm. The conflict lasted sev- eral hours, and literally made the streets of the city run with blood.- Order was scarcely restored when the astounding intelligence arrived that Charles and Ferdinand had both renounced the Crown, on the 6th ifay 1808, in favor of Joseph Bonaparte. The Council of the Indies ratified the abdication, and transferred the dominion of the Col- onies to the new King. Spain was now involved in all the horrors of anarchy, without other government than the military despotism of the french. "\Vith a view to redeem the country from this deplorable con- dition; to reestablish order, and to organize a resistance to the invaders, political Juntas sprang up in all the Provinces, each one arrogating the direction of public affairs, and all of them claiming to rule the nation in the name of Ferdinand. 'rhat of Seville, finally took the
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