Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/148

 116 MEXICO. the feelings, which it was so well calculated to excite. A very few days, however, convinced him of his error, and he issued a second proclamation, soliciting the support of the people, and declaring his determination to preserve, to the last, his fidelity to his, and their, Sovereign. This declaration was received with enthusiasm. It was the first time that the people of Mexico had been taught to con- sider their voice of any importance, and they availed them- selves of the opportunity with an eagerness, which proved that they felt the value of the right which they were called upon to exercise. The Ayuntamientos, in most instances, became the organs of the people, and addresses poured in from every quarter, in which provinces, towns, and even villages, expressed their de- voted loyalty, and their resolution to support the authority of the representative of their captive Sovereign. This interchange of congenial sentiments created a kindly feeling between the Viceroy and the Creoles ; and advantage was taken of his wish to conciliate them, by the Ayunta- miento of the capital, composed of men of the first influence and respectability in the state, to propose the creation of a Junta, in imitation of the Mother country ; and even the conocation of a National Mexican assembly, to be composed of deputies from the diff*erent provinces. This suggestion was not unfavourably received by Iturri- garay, but was protested against by the Audiencia, as con- trary to the privileges, both of the Crown and of the Euro- peans. Disputes ran high between the Municipality and this body, during the months of July and August, aud the be- ginning of September (1808), when the Audiencia, finding that the Viceroy was inclined to side with their opponents, and to admit the Creoles to a share in the government, deter- mined to arrest, and depose him, in order to cut short a pro- ject, which they regarded as fatal to their own authority.