Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/329

Rh Early in 1825, the general congress assembled in the city of Mexico. Guadalupe Victoria was declared president, and Nicolas Bravo vice president. The national finances were recruited by a loan from England; and a legislative effort was made to narrow the influence of the priesthood, according to the just limits it should occupy in a republic.

All Spanish America had been in a ferment for several years, and the power of Castile was forever broken on this continent. Peru, as well as Mexico, had cast off the bonds of dependence, for the brilliant battle of Ayacucho rescued the republican banner from the danger with which for a while it was menaced. The European forces, had never been really formidable, except for their superior discipline and control under royalist leaders,—but they were now driven out of the heart of the continent,—whilst the few pertinacious troops and generals who still remained, were confined to the coasts of Mexico, Puru, and Chili, where they clung to the fortress of San Juan de Ulua, the castle of Callao, and the strongholds of Chiloe.

Victoria was sworn into office on the 15th of April, 1825. Several foreign nations had already recognized the independence of Mexico, or soon hastened to do so; for all were eager to grasp a share of the commerce and mines which they imagined had been so profitable to Spain. The British, especially, who had become holders of Mexican bonds, were particularly desirous to open commercial intercourse and to guard it by international treaties.

In the winter of 1826, it was discovered, by the discussions in congress of projects for their suppression, that the party leaders, fearing an open attempt to conduct their unconstitutional machinations, had sought the concealment of masonic institutions in which they might foster their antagonistic schemes. The rival lodges were designated as Escocesses and Yorkinos, the former numbering among its members the vice president Nicolas Bravo, Gomez Pedraza, and Jose Montayno, while the Yorkinos boasted of Generals Victoria, Santa Anna, Guerrero, Lorenzo de Zavala, and Bustamante. The adherents of the Escocesses were said to be in favor of a limited monarchy with a Spanish prince at its head; but the Yorkinos maintained the supremacy of the constitution and declared themselves hostile to all movements of a central character. The latter party was, by far, the most numerous. The intelligent liberals of all classes sustained it; yet its leaders had to contend with the dignitaries of the church, the opulent agriculturists, land holders and miners, and many of the higher officers of the army whose