Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/560

 520 APPEN DIX. amongst the European soldiers, without its heing possible for the Go- vernment either to replace them, or the arms which they generally carry off. The usual means of recruiting are useless amongst a people who detest the armies of the King; conscription is of no avail, on account of the want of order in the villages, and the opposition of the Ayuntamientos. Forced levies, which are sometimes attempted, only serve to swell the number of our regiments for the moment, and afterwards to strengthen the ranks of the enemy, while our small stock of military stores is ex- hausted by the arms and uniforms, which our deserters are enabled, by the general assistance that they meet with, to carry over to the rebels : — For, as six millions of inhabitants, decided in the cause of Independence, have no need of previous consultation or agreement, each one acts, ac- cording to his means and opportunities, in favour of the project common to all: — The Judge, and his dependents, by concealing or conniving at crimes : — the Clergy, by advocating the justice of the cause in the con- fessional, and even in the pulpit itself : — the writers, by corrupting pub- lic opinion : — the women, by employing their attractions to seduce the royal troops, and even prostituting themselves to them in order to induce them to go over to the insurgents : — the Government officer, by reveal- ing, and thus paralyzing the plans of his superiors : — the youth, by taking arms: — the old man, by giving intelligence, and forwarding cor- respondence : — the public Corporations, by giving an example of eternal differences with the Europeans, not one of whom they will admit as a colleague, — by refusing any sort of assistance to the Government, — and by representing its conduct, and that of its faithful agents, in the most odious light, in protests, for which malice always finds a specious pretext; while the edifice of the State is thus sapped by all, under the shelter of the liberal institutions of the day ! An association has subsisted in this Capital for more than three j'ears, under the name of " the Guadalupes," which corresponds with every part of the kingdom, and is composed of a number of men whose situation necessarily gives them a participation in the affairs of the Government. And yet it is by these men that the operations of the rebels have been directed, and that they have been encouraged and supported in their reverses. From this club they received every species of information that could conduce either to their security, or to the success of their plans,— a diary of all that passed in the Capital,— statements of forces,— of money and stores, issued by the Government, — accounts of its resources, wants, and necessities, and intelligence of every measure taken by the Viceroy, in order to meet the exigencies of the moment. Proofs of this treason- able correspondence have been acquired during the late severe checks which the Insurgents have received, and many of the principal criminals of this faction have been discovered : I should have already purged the