Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/619

Rh The constitution was at once given effect by the election of the executive in the persons of Liceaga, Morelos, and Cos, the first-named winning the The supreme government shall consist of three persons, equal in authority, and alternating every four months in the presidency as decided by lot on first assuming office. The congress elects in secret session nine nominees, from whom the deputies choose by ballot the three rulers. One of them retires every year, by lot drawn in congress. There shall be three secretaries of war, treasury, and government, holding office for four years. Reëlection cannot take place before the lapse of an intermediate term. The supreme government is entitled highness, the ruler excellency, and the secretary Señoria. The government has the power to organize and move armies and appoint to a number of military and civil offices, etc. National funds to be administered by an intendencia general, consisting of an intendente general, a fiscal, an asesor. two ministros, and a secretary. Similar boards are to be formed in each province, headed by the intendente of the province, who holds office for three years, like the intendente general.

The supreme tribunal of justice shall consist for the present of five judges elected like the executive, who alternate in the presidency every three months, and retire by lot, two with the first year, two with the second, and the fifth with the third year. There shall be a fiscal for civil and criminal cases respectively, with the title of Señoria, the judges being called excellencies and the court highness. The government shall appoint judges for partidos for three years, till popular elections can be held. These judges wield the same judicial power as the former subdelegates. In towns and villages existing governments shall remain till the congress finds opportunity to change the system. The government has to appoint ecclesiastic judges to try ecclesiastics in the first instance. A residencia tribunal of seven judges shall be chosen by lot, by the congress, from the candidates selected by provincial electors, one for each province; and its duty shall be to decide charges against members of congress, government, and supreme court.

The congress shall form within a year after the next installation of government, a plan for a representation based on population and suited to tho latest change of circumstances. As soon as all the provinces save Yucatan, Sonora, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon are free from foes, the government must convoke the national representation in accordance with that plan, and into its hands the congress shall surrender the sovereign power. The present constitution remains in force till this new body frames another.

To this document, dated October 22, 1814, are attached the signatures of Liceaga, deputy for Guanajuato and president, Verdusco, deputy for Michoacan, Morelos for Nuevo Leon, Herrera for Tecpan, Cos for Zacatecas, Sotero de Castañeda for Durango, Ortiz de Zarate for Tlascala, Alderete y Soria for Querétaro, Antonio José Montezuma for Coahuila, Ponce de Leon for Sonora, Argándar for San Luis Potosí, and secretaries Yarza and Bermeo. It is added that Rayon, Crespo, Quintana, Bustamante, and Sesma were absent, but had contributed their views. The supreme government countersigns on Oct. 24th, in the persons of Liceaga, as president, Morelos and Cos, and Yarza, as secretary. Text in Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., v. 703-20; ''Mex., Dec. Constit. Apatzingan''. Imprenta Nacional, año 1815, 12mo, 1-88, one of the rare early special issues of the constitution. Dublan y Lozano, Ley, Mex., i. 427-51; ''Derecho Intern. Mex''., pt iii. 470-93. Bustamante also reproduces it in his ''Cuad. Hist''., iii. 157-89; ''Die. Univ''., ap. i. 220-32; ''Perez, Die. Geog., i. 524-40; Araujo y San Roman, Impug., Pap. Var''., Ixvi. pt v.; ''Mex. Dec. Constit., 1-68, in Constit., ii.; Negrete, Mex. Siglo XIX''., vi. 343-85, with synopsis in Alaman, Mendíbil, etc. Morelos states that the framers of the document were Quintana, Bustamante, and Herrera, Declaracion, 29; but Bustamante certainly could not claim the share. With regard to the