Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/534

 494 A PP EN DI X. in a proclamation addressed to the Americans. This Junta was recog- nized by, and received laws from, the Cortes. In Mexico, the imprisonment of the Viceroy, Don Jose Yturrigaray, by a faction of Europeans, on the night of the 15th of September, 1808, created disputes between them and the Americans. This feeling, spread- ing gradually through the kingdom, and increasing from day to day, by the death of some and the imprisonment of others, (particularly of the Corregidor of Queretaro,) and the distinctions conferred by the new Viceroy, Don Francisco Venegas, upon the author and accomplices of the faction, caused an insurrection in the Interior, which began in the vil- lage of Dolores, the 16th of September, and extended itself in a most alarming manner. Such are the circumstances which have occasioned the breaking out of the Revolution in the different parts of America; the pretext unani«» mously alleged, is the necessity of providing for their own safety, and their wish not to be given up to the French, or any other power, but pre- served to Ferdinand VII., whom all have acknowledged, and proclaimed as their king. This being the case, to what, but to bad government, can the present differences be attributed.'^ The daily increasing system of oppression banished from the hearts of the natives the hope of reform, and begot the desire of Independence, which was looked upon as the only remedy. An inflammable material has gone on accumulating, till at last it has ignited, with a very small spark, and the mine has burst. Oppres- sion, is, without doubt, the first link in the chain of causes which have produced this effect. Throughout the Colonies, the fear of being betrayed to the French was very great, and not entirely without foundation. To this circumstance, which was common to all the Provinces, and occasioned the Revolution in Caracas, may be added the conduct of the Viceroy in Buenos Ayres, who communicated the intelligence of the invasion of Andalusia as a decisive blow, allowed the people to form a Congress, and to choose a Junta which should govern them. The bad conduct of the chiefs in Quito, Socorro, and Chile, — of indivi- duals in Santa Fe, — of both, as well as of the Government, in Mexico, may be subjoined to the fatal news from Spain. It is worthy of remark that the differences have everywhere com- menced with an attack upon the Creoles, on the part of the Europeans. Nowhere has any American been known to insult a European, but the reverse. In every province, Americans were tried and thrown into prison, on pretence of being disaffected to Spain, and yet not one of the many Europeans who insulted the Americans, even in public places, was chastised. In them it was a crime only to show themselves well disposed towards the Creoles, or to commiserate their oppression. For this the most respectable men amongst them were an-ested, and even a Viceroy himself deposed. Americans were continually sent to the Peninsula, where they were absolved, which proves the injustice with which they had been treated. In a word, the blood of the Creoles was profusely