Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/199

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
MEXICO.
163

conifidential servants of the Grown of Spain felt the impossibility of maintaining its authority there, unless supported by an overwhelming force, and admitted, "that the whole population of the country was bent upon the attainment of an independent political existence." This fact is so strongly urged throughout Calleja's letter to the King, that it may be considered, (as he himself terms it,) the corner stone of his whole argument. He states, in one passage, " That notwithstanding the advantages which he had obtained in the field, but little had been done towards destroying the seeds of the Rebellion ; the focus of which hes in the great towns, and more particularly in the Capital." In another, he says, " That the great majority of the natives is in favour of the Insurrection," — that " the municipalities, the Provincial Deputations, and even the Spanish Cortes themselves, (in as far as the provinces of Ultramar are concerned,) are composed of nothing but Insurgents, and those of the most decided and criminal character." In another : " That the Insurgents profess at- tachment to the Constitution, not, because they intend to adopt it, or ever to submit to the Mother country, but, be- cause it affords them the means of attaining all that they de- sire without risk." In another : " That the Insurrection is so deeply impressed, and rooted, in the heart of every Ame- rican, that nothing but the most energetic measures, sup- ported by an imposing force, can ever eradicate it :" — that " the war strengthens, and propagates the love of Indepen- dence, by holding out a constant hope of the destruction of the old Spaniards, a longing desire for which is general amongst all classes !" and lastly, that " as six millions of in- habitants decided in the cause of Independence, have no need of previous consultation, or agreement, each one acts, accord- ing to his means and opportunities, in favour of the project, common to all : the judge, by concealing, or conniving at, crimes : the clergy, by advocating the justice of the cause in the confessional, and, even in the pulpit: the writers, by cor-

M 2