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154 error, and he issued a second proclamation, soliciting the support of the people, and declaring his determination to preserve, to the last, his fidelity to his, and their, Sovereign.

This declaration was received with enthusiasm. It was the first time that the people of Mexico had been taught to consider their voice of any importance, and they availed themselves of the opportunity with an eagerness, which proved, that they felt the value of the right, which they were called upon to exercise.

The Ayuntamientos, every where, became the organs of the people, and addresses poured in from every quarter, in which provinces, towns, and even villages, expressed their devoted loyalty, and their resolution to support the authority of the representative of their captive Sovereign.

This interchange of congenial sentiments, created a kindly feeling between the Viceroy and the Creoles: and advantage was taken of his wish to conciliate then, in the Ayuntamiento of the Capital, composed of men of the first influence and respectability in the State, to propose the creation of a Junta, in imitation of the Mother country; and even the convocation of a National Mexican assembly, to be composed of deputies from the different provinces.

This suggestion was not unfavourably received by Iturrigaray, but was protested against by the Audiencia, as contrary to the privileges, both of the