Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/539

 APPENDIX. 499 justice with which the inhabitants have been treated, and their deter- mination to put an end to a system of oppression, which began with the Conquest." 19. — The result will have convinced your Majesty of the fallacy of these assertions, each of which was usually accompanied by the recom- mendation of some particular measure, which was to serve as a remedy for the evil. The remedy has been tried, — one concession after another has been made ; but the evil remains, and wiU remain, exactly in statu quo. 20. — Some other cause must, therefore, be assigned for the calamities which afflict New Spain, and it is as easy to point it out, as it is to affirm that it is the only one: — a King who, although himself a sage, thought that he might disregard the practice of every other nation, abandoned this province to its fate, by withdrawing the Colonial (Presidial) garri- son. From that moment it might have been foreseen that it would aspire to Independence as soon as it felt its own strength Such has been always the desire of colonies situated at a distance from the centre of government : — they have invariably preferred their own advantage, to the laws of justice. (It is unnecessary to follow the expose through the following para- graphs, in which the Audiencia attempts to prove that a colony can 7iever cancel its debt of gmtitude to the Mother-country, and that in Mexico those with whom the first idea of Independence originated, were mere adventurers, who embarked in the cause as the only mode of retrieving their ruined fortunes.) 24. — The invasion of the Peninsula, the abdication of the Sovereign, and the occupation of Madrid by foreign troops, offered some prospect of an approaching Independence, which could not but be flattering to a Viceroy, who had but little else to hope. 25. — It is impossible not to shed tears on reflecting that the exalted patriotism displayed throughout New Spain upon that occasion, should have been so soon diverted into a different channel. The Spanish mo- narchy will never possess more loyal citizens than all its inhabitants then were ; — they loved, they adored their King,— and the vehement effusion of their sentiments was the best proof of their sincerity. 26. — But fate decreed that, at that moment, a few restless spirits, (" hombres discolos, o' preocupados,") should dream of Independence, (the very name and idea of which had been, till then, happily unknown to their countrymen,) and that their projects should be countenanced by a body, respectable in itself, amongst whose members many connived at proposals which could have no other object. The worst, too, was, that these schemes were, to a certain point, favoured by measures on the part of the Government, which, if they had not been cut short, would have been of themselves sufficient to revolutionise the country. 27. — Thus, the extraordinary pretensions of the Ayuntamiento of 2 K 2