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Rh beyond referring it to a committee. All the points embraced in it were afterward considered as settled by clauses in the constitution when adopted.

The committee on the constitution laid before the chamber on the 18th the chief part of its labors, namely, the organization of the legislative and executive powers, and the 24th was fixed for further deliberations. There were other measures before the congress more closely connected with this history. One was a petition from the consulado of Mexico respecting the representation which America should have, according to the state of civilization of the several classes constituting her population. The consulado complained that the elections of deputies had not been according to law, being carried by ayuntamientos at capitals composed mostly of creoles; so that the deputies chosen were exclusively of that class. The consequence was, that Spaniards in New Spain, a wealthy and influential class, were left unrepresented. It therefore petitioned that the consulados of Mexico, Vera Cruz, and Guadalajara, representing the merchants of each district, and embracing almost all the Spaniards in the country, should each be represented in the córtes by two deputies, and all further discussion on American affairs should be suspended till those six representatives had been admitted to their seats. In the mean time, the consulado asked that the deputies Evaristo Perez de Castro, Manuel