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262 it was their duty to repair an error, which a mistaken notion of honour had induced them to commit.

A feeling of this nature was gaining ground when the re-establishment of the Constitution in Spain, by the very army that was destined to rivet the chains of America, gave to the partisans of the Independent cause an additional advantage. Although the liberty of the press was not established, still, freedom of communication could not be prevented. The events of 1812 seemed to be repeated; the elections threw the minds of the people again into a ferment, which, from the restricted powers of the Viceroy, it was almost impossible to allay; and, in addition to this, the Old Spaniards were divided amongst themselves. Many were sincere Constitutionalists, while others were as sincerely attached to the old system. In Mexico, as in the Mother country, these parties broke out into open hostility. The Viceroy Apodaca, who probably thought que c'étoit son metier à lui d'étre royaliste, although he took the oath to the Constitution, lost no opportunity of favouring the party opposed to it; and took advantage of the decrees of the Cortes respecting Church property, to form an alliance with the great Dignitaries of the church in the Capital, in conjunction with whom, it is believed to have been his intention to proclaim a return to the old system, as the only means of saving the country from ruin, and religion from contamination.