of José Manuel Herrera, vicario general of the army, who had just been chosen for Tecpan; and of three substitutes, selected by Morelos to represent Mexico, Puebla, and Vera Cruz, namely, Cárlos Maria Bustamante, Andrés Quintana Roo, and Doctor Cos. Murguía prudently retired almost at the opening, leaving his place to Manuel Sabino Crespo, the second choice for Oajaca.[1] The retention of the councilmen in the assembly gave good reason for considering it a mere extension of the former body, and as such it was after ward designated by Rayon and others for motives of their own.[2]
The congress was installed with the members then present, on September 14th, under the presidency of Murguía[3] Morelos delivering the opening speech.[4] It was accorded the title of majesty or highness, and the deputies that of excellency, supported by a salary of six thousand pesos annually for their term of four years.[5] A majority of votes with a quorum
- ↑ List in Id., v. 159. Yucatan and the northern provinces received no direct voice. For lack of documents no doubt Alaman expresses himself both vaguely and erroneously on some points, while taking Bustamante to task for defects which belong to the latter's paragraph headings. Negrete covers him self by a disjointed introduction of documents not always to the point, and Zamacois evades the difficulty as usual by quoting the vague allusions of a previous writer.
- ↑ Bustamante quibbled till the end of Oct. for a large escort corresponding to his pretensions before he would join. Rayon delayed, and Cos stayed away. See letters in Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., v. 97, 103-5, 132.
- ↑ It had been fixed for the 8th. Bustamante intimates the 13th, and Morelos' letter to Rayon, Id., 161-2, shows that the general meeting sat on the 13th, 14th, and 15th; in the same collection, p. 103, the opening speech is dated the 18th. So many errors appear in the set, however, as to seriously impair its authority on minute points. The very speech indicates that the 14th should be regarded as the opening day, and so it is confirmed in Id., vi. 208.
- ↑ Not the exalted declamation against tyrants, with invocation of aboriginal heroes, as prepared by Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., ii. 387-01, and published in Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., v. 163-6, from the copy retouched by Morelos; a royalist distortion is given in Id., vi. 212-15.
- ↑ Sessions were to be daily and public, the summons being chimed by the parish bells for 8 a. m. during summer and 9 a. m. during winter. Any citizen could present written suggestions for consideration. After discussing a question, a majority of ballot votes decided it, the decree being sent in to the executive, signed by the president and two secretaries, who, together with a vice-president, attended to ministerial affairs. The executive could submit whatever projects for laws he deemed well. Charges against deputies were to be decided by a commission of five persons elected from the five provinces adjoining the seat of the congress. They could not leave their seat for military
