Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/487

Rh nature of the warfare begun in 1810. The aristocratic element, the wealthy and office-holding classes in church and state, accustomed to control, sought to regain the power seized by the people. Old influences and old feelings were not wholly dead; there was still strength in the Spanish constitution of 1812, due to a liberal clique among the officers of the army, and which found representation in Mexico among the escoseses, so named from a masonic lodge with Scotch rites. True, their aim had gradually turned toward independence. Foreseeing the inevitable, the threatened clergy rose in behalf of their privileges, and skilfully manœuvred into existence, with Bourbon aid, an empire under Iturbide, to forestall the radicals. But republicanism had already acquired strength, and the escoseses availed themselves of it to overthrow the empire, seeking as an aristocratic body to establish a dominant central government. The provincials, however, had scented the sweets of state independence under a federation, and regardless of anything save party interests, the imperialists joined them in large force to overwhelm the escoseses. Here again the aristocratic element acquired the upper hand, notably in the control of offices, to the disappointment of the hungry radicals, who thereupon combined under the term of yorkinos, from another masonic lodge, to strive for a share of spoils. The mere prospect was enough to revive the crushed party, and unite the rich and influential classes to retain the exclusive possession.

These two formed the great factions, as we have elsewhere seen, which for decades kept the country in tumult, with or without principles, though never lacking war-cries, with subdivisions and branches, and with an occasional partial coalescence. Both appealed to the people with empty promises and doubtful