Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/617

Rh Their most impressive effort to stem the tide was the issue of a republican constitution, which came as it were to replace the one just withdrawn by the royalists. It was the great work for which the congress had been formed by Morelos, wrought amidst persecution and wandering. Since its flight into Michoacan the assembly had flitted from one place to another, attended by a ragged and almost unarmed escort of four score men, and suffering privations of every kind, of which hunger was not the least. Yet misfortune taught no lesson of humility and prudence. The bent for pomp was not restrained, nor the clashing of jealousy and obstinacy which threatened what little influence still remained to the body.

Apatzingan, a small town in the western part of Michoacan, was selected on account of its seclusion for the important task of issuing the constitution, and here it was signed October 22d by eleven of the deputies, and proclaimed with all the demonstration that could be evoked from a small population, fringed by the ragged army of five hundred men brought in by Morelos and Cos. The document opens characteristically with the declaration that the Roman catholic shall be the sole religion. Sovereignty is vested in a congress elected by the people by indirect ballot, and consisting of one deputy from each of seventeen provinces now formed. This body elects the members of the other two powers, the supreme government and supreme court of justice, together with a residencia tribunal for trying charges against all the supreme officials. The executive shall consist of three members, equal in authority, alternating in the presidency