and requested that it should be discussed with freedom. The plan, set forth in ten articles, was approved almost unanimously, the only dissentient votes being those of generals José Alcorta and José María Miñon.[1]
The junta of representatives assembled on the 3d, elected Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga president ad ininterim, and on the next day placed him in office.[2]
Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga was born in the city of Mexico on the 6th of January, 1797. He entered the Spanish army as a cadet on the 6th of January, 1812. Though he saw much active service in that eventful period, having taken part in twenty-two actions, he became captain only in March 1821, at which time he joined Iturbide, and entered the capital with the trigarante army. With the marqués de Vivanco he proclaimed liberty at Puebla in February 1823. In 1831 he was promoted to colonel, and the next year to brigadier-general.[3] After a campaign south of Morelia he was made a general of division. He aided Santa Anna to establish the Bases de Tacubaya, destroying the
- ↑ The ten propositions were as follows: 1. The citizens that were exercising the legislative and executive functions have ceased to act. 2. A junta of representatives of the departments — two for each department — appointed by the general-in-chief of the army, will at once choose the person that is to wield the supreme executive authority, until the extraordinary congress which is to constitute the nation shall assemble, pursuant to art. 3 of the plan adopted at San Luis Potosí, Dec. 14, 1845. 3. The junta aforesaid to dissolve immediately after choosing the acting president. 4. The powers of such president to be those prescribed by law; he will not go beyond them, except to provide for the defence of the national territory; but always respecting the guaranties prescribed by the laws. 5. The acts of the acting president's ministers to be amenable to the first constitutional congress. 6. The president, eight days after assuming his office, shall convoke the extraordinary congress, to meet in four months at the capital. 7, 8, and 9 continue in office the council, officials, and judiciary. 10. The person to be persecuted for political opinions previously expressed. Méx., Col. Ley. Fund., 271-3; Zamacois, Hist. Méj., xii. 405-6.
- ↑ The junta then adjourned sine die. Its president was Archbishop Posada, and the secretaries Juan N. Almonte and Bernardo Guimbarda. Among its other prominent members were Lúcas Alaman, Cárlos M. Bustamante, generals Nicolás Bravo, José M. Tornel, and Pedro Ampudia, and Bishop Pardío of Yucatan. Méx., Col. Ley. Fund., 271-6, 316, 372-3; Zamacois, Hist. Méj., xii. 409; Memor. Histór., Jan. 5, 1846.
- ↑ His quarrelsome disposition had lost him the favor of the chief of the army, and he was sent to serve in the western states. Paredes began to take part in political affairs in 1835, and from that time was an upholder of centralism. Rivera, Gob. de Méx., ii. 192, 286-98.
