Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/60

44 thought that almost any change would be beneficial to him so long as he remained at the head of affairs. If the people desired him to hold the country for Spain—well; Spain would hardly object to that. If France was to rule, then he could be for France—particularly if Godoy was on good terms with Napoleon. And even if New Spain broke into full rebellion, declared absolute independence, and he could be their king or president—why, that would be well too; and if afterward France or Spain should prove too much for Mexico, then he had only done his best for France or Spain.

The audiencia, the church, the inquisition, all suspected the viceroy, and regarded with contempt the ayuntamiento. If there was to be a change, each of these powers desired to be at the head; they were each determined at the least not to lose what influence they had, and to gain as much more as possible. In regard to the people, the military, officers of the government, ecclesiastics, and the rest, there was held every phase of ideas. The sympathies of some were with Fernando; many prided themselves in their loyalty to Spain; all hated France; the bolder dreamed of actual independence. The Creoles and the viceroy acted together in favor of a national congress, but for widely different ends: the former being for the liberty of the nation, the latter for personal aggrandizement. One looked to the representative body as the first movement toward securing that quality of self-government so lately secured by the United States; the other regarded it only as an agent to do him service—perhaps to place upon his head a crown, either in his own name or in the name of Spain.

Out of these several phases of opinion arose several factions. But the two great final divisions, of course, were the royalists, who would have America always ruled by Europe, and the independents, who would have America always free. In the main, the Spaniards in America belonged to the former faction, and