Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/255

Rh, great differences of opinion prevailed with regard to the propriety of substituting a Central, or a Federal Republic for her authority. The composition of the Executive was exceedingly singular: it consisted of Generals Victoria, Bravo, and Negrete, each of whom being employed in different commissions in the Interior, was replaced by a substitute, named by the Congress, who exercised the supreme authority, in conjunction with his colleagues, until the return of the Propietario, (the member originally named,) to the Capital. The substitutes in January 1824 were Messrs. Michelana and Dominguez, with General Guerrero, by whom the affairs of the country were for some time conducted. A government thus constituted, found it no easy task to curb the licentious spirit which had been generated by the civil war; and there was, consequently, much wildness in the appearance of the troops, and no little insubordination on the part of the officers, of which the insurrection of Lobato afforded a memorable example. Means were found to repress both this, and every similar attempt to resist the authority of the Supreme Government; but time was requisite in order to efface the demoralizing effects of the Revolution, and every thing was still in an incipient state. The streets of the Capital were unlighted; the pavement in many places destroyed, and the principal houses shut up; while the general appearance of the population bespoke poverty and distress. There was hardly a single foreign resident, with the