Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/580

564 of five sufficed to pass laws. The first act was to give sanction to the tumultuous acclamation by the army officers in favor of Morelos as generalissimo, a position created by himself with full knowledge that the nomination, almost wholly from among his own men, must fall upon himself, and that the deputies then present would confirm it. The office embraced the executive power, and was to be held so long as the occupant showed fitness for it, with perfect freedom for granting honors and promotion, and with the title of highness, although Morelos preferred to call him self the servant of the nation. The judicial power remained for the present vested in existing tribunals, headed by the congress itself, but a meeting of advocates and learned men was to be called at an early opportunity to elect judges for a supreme court of the same number as the deputies, and with the same term and pay.

The rules issued by Morelos for the guidance of.