Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/564

 noble ambition of preserving for so worthy a monarch the rich [sic]posssessions of which he is Lord in this vast continent. God preserve your Excellency, &c.

2em

Mexico, 18th August, 1814.

 



1. The Mexican nation is independent of the Spanish nation, and of every other, even on its own Continent.

2. Its religion shall be the Catholic, which all its inhabitants profess.

3. They shall be all united, without any distinction between Americans and Europeans.

4. The government shall be a Constitutional Monarchy.

5. A junta shall be named, consisting of individuals who enjoy the highest reputation in the different parties which have shown themselves.

6. The junta shall be under the presidency of his Excellency the Conde del Venadito, the present Viceroy of Mexico.

7. It shall govern in the name of the Nation, according to the laws now in force, and its principal business will be to convoke, according to such rules as it shall deem expedient, a congress for the formation of a constitution more suitable to the country.

8. His Majesty Ferdinand VII. shall be invited to the throne: of the empire, and in case of his refusal, the Infantes Don Carlos and Don Francisco de Paula.

9. Should his Majesty Ferdinand VII. and his august brothers decline the invitation, the nation is at liberty to invite to the imperial throne any member of reigning families whom it may select.

10. The formation of the constitution by the congress, and the oath of the Emperor to observe it, must precede his entry into the country.

11. The distinction of castes is abolished, which was made by the Spanish law, excluding them from the rights of citizenship. All the inhabitants of the country are citizens, and equal, and the door of advancement is open to virtue and merit.

12, An army shall be formed for the support of Religion, Independence, and Union, guaranteeing these three principles, and therefore it shall be called the army of the three Guarantees.