Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/553

 APPENDIX. 513 who, under the shelter of the new Institutions, aided, directed, and en- couraged the rebels, from this, and all the other principal towns in the kingdom, without my being able to counteract them, on account of the Constitution, and the decrees of the Cortes, by which my hands were tied ;— deprived, too, of the support and assistance, which I might have derived from the principal Corporations, all of which had been filled by the popular elections with men interested in the ruin of the Spanish Go- vernment in this Hemisphere,— I suffered the most cruel mental anguish, and despaired, at times, of being able to preserve for our beloved Sove- reign this precious part of the possessions of the crown. In vain I represented to the Regency, by every possible opportunity, that Mexico would be irrecoverably lost, unless a different system were adopted, and the Constitution suspended ; my complaints were neither attended to, nor answered, and I was only charged publicly to adhere strictly to the new principles, which every day deprived me of the few means that I had left for curbing the Insurrection. Happily, my military operations were so fortunate, that I succeeded in ^destroying the rebel Curate Morelos, whose success at one time seemed to menace the ruin of Spanish dominion here. I recovered Oaxaca, with the port and fortress of Acapulco, and succeeded in driving out of Texas the rebels, with their Anglo-American Allies ; a number of the Insurgent chiefs were taken ; some of their principal bands dispersed, whose vicinity to the Capital threatened us with a scarcity, by impeding the introduction of supplies; and the roads so far cleared, that but small escorts were required in order to keep up the communications with the Interior. If that with Vera Cruz be not yet established, it is principally the fault of the Governor of that district, who, notwithstanding my being responsible for the measures of the Government, has more than ence alleged direct orders from the Regency as an excuse for disregard- ing mine, and thus deprived our operations of all unity of plan. This want of subordination in the local authorities has tended greatly to in- crease the general disorder, and to render fruitless, for want of co-ope- I'ation, the prodigious efforts of the troops. This, and other causes which I shall have the honour of pointing out to your Excellency as I proceed, have counterbalanced the decisive ad- vantages which we have obtained in the field ; and I am compelled to confess that, notwithstanding our victories, but little has been done against the spirit of the rebellion, the focus of which is in the great towns, and more particularly in this capital. On one side, the elections, —the fanatical elections, — destroyed, in a moment, the fruits of the la- bour, the efforts, the combinations of months ; — and, on the other, the want of power to chastise those, who constantly corresponded with the rebels, and informed them of all the military preparations of the Govern- ment, prevented the execution of our plans. For your Excellency must take as the corner-stone of my whole argument the fact, that the great VOL. I. 2 L