Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/112

92 welfare till she discarded the republican form of govmentgovernment [sic] and accepted the monarchial, with a foreign prince for the first occupant of the throne.

The publication of such a document — at a time of popular excitement, when the people wanted to do away with the central régime existing since 1835, and to restore the federal constitution of 1824 — may well be imagined. The government did not prevaricate on that occasion. The author was treated as a political heretic; his letter and pamphlet were condemned as scandalous, offensive to the nation, and in the highest degree unconstitutional. During his subsequent residence of many years in Europe he did not lose sight of his pet scheme. Its introduction in Mexican politics was again tried during Herrera's administration in 1844, the remnants of the monarchists coming together and resolving to strike a blow at their federalist foes. A revolution broke out, headed by General Paredes, which is fully detailed in the proper place. If we are to believe Gutierrez, Paredes was the active instrument of the monarchists. Whatsoever their number — and it could not be large — they certainly had no strength to effect the transformation,