beyond referring it to a committee. All the points embraced in it were afterward considered as settled by clauses in the constitution when adopted.
The committee on the constitution[1] laid before the chamber on the 18th the chief part of its labors, namely, the organization of the legislative and executive powers, and the 24th was fixed for further deliberations. There were other measures before the congress more closely connected with this history. One was a petition from the consulado of Mexico respecting the representation which America should have, according to the state of civilization of the several classes constituting her population.[2] The consulado complained that the elections of deputies had not been according to law, being carried by ayuntamientos at capitals composed mostly of creoles; so that the deputies chosen were exclusively of that class. The consequence was, that Spaniards in New Spain, a wealthy and influential class, were left unrepresented. It therefore petitioned that the consulados of Mexico, Vera Cruz, and Guadalajara, representing the merchants of each district, and embracing almost all the Spaniards in the country, should each be represented in the córtes by two deputies, and all further discussion on American affairs should be suspended till those six representatives had been admitted to their seats. In the mean time, the consulado asked that the deputies Evaristo Perez de Castro, Manuel
- ↑ Composed of the most prominent members of the córtes, several of whom were Americans. Among them were Antonio Joaquin Perez and Mariano Mendiola. The chamber was at the time presided over by Juan José Guereña, canon of Puebla and deputy from Durango.
- ↑ Bustamante, Suplem., in Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii., 336-77, gives the document, which bears date April 17, 1811, and another on the same subject dated May 27th. They had the signatures of Diego de Agreda, conde de casa de Agreda, prior, Francisco Chavarri and Lorenzo Noriega, consuls; and were drawn up by Francisco Arámbarri, a Basque from Guipúzcoa, who had lived many years in South America. Basilio de Arrillaga was the secretary of the consulado, but being a native of America, he was kept in ignorance of the contents. Alaman, Hist. Méx., iii. 76-7, v. app. 100. The electoral law of Aug. 20, 1810, published in Mexico Dec. 19th, said that it embraced all Spaniards, whether born in America or Asia or elsewhere, that were domiciled in these countries, the Indians, and also the sons of Spaniards and Indians.
