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MEXICO (ANTIQUITIES). 



Me force, and, meeting with a series of successes, lie 

 :id\iinced (in January, 1812} to within a short dis- 

 tance of the capital. In this expedition, Victoria 

 first distinguished himself. Morelos was obliged 

 to retire, Gut captured Oaxaca and Arapulco. A 

 national congress was assembled at Chilpanzingo, 

 .S-jUfiiiber, 1818, which declared Mexico indepen- 

 dent. The forces of the insurgents were afterwards 

 almost annihilated by Iturbide, and Morelos was 

 himself shot in 1815. Victoria retired to the moun- 

 tains, where he remained concealed eighteen months. 

 Guerrero alone maintained a small force in the south. 

 In 1817, general Mina landed with a small body of 

 foreigners, and gained some temporary success ; but 

 he was made prisoner in July of that year, and shot. 

 Thus in 1819 all the insurgent chiefs had been par- 

 doned or executed, except Guerrero. In 1820, the 

 cortes having ordered the sale of the church property, 

 Apodaca, the viceroy, refused to acknowledge the 

 cortes ; lie employed Iturbide to reduce Guerrero, 

 but that general joined the insurgent chief, proposed 

 the plan of Iguala, and proclaimed the independence 

 of his country, February 24, 1821. At this time, the 

 constitutional viceroy, O'Donoju, arrived in the 

 country, and concluded with Iturbide the peace of 

 Cordova, by which it was stipulated that the Span- 

 ish army should evacuate Mexico. The viceroy and 

 Iturbide were associated in the government, and the 

 army was called the army of the three guarantees, the 

 objects to be maintained being the independence of 

 Mexico as a separate monarchy under a Bourbon 

 prince, the maintenance of the Catholic religion, and 

 the union of all classes. A congress was assembled 

 February 24, 1822, to settle the principles of the con- 

 stitution. But the cortes having declared the past 

 proceedings null, Iturbide caused himself to be pro- 

 claimed emperor May 18, 1822, under the title of Au- 

 gustin the First. A powerful party opposed the new 

 state of things. After a bloody struggle, the emperor 

 offered to abdicate in March, 1823, and was allowed 

 to depart for Europe. A new form of government, 

 on federal republican principles, was now established. 

 Iturbide returned to the country in 1824, but was 

 immediately arrested and shot. On the banishment 

 of the emperor, a poder executivo, or executive, was 

 formed, consisting of Vittoria, Bravo, and Negrete, 

 and, in 1824, the constitution was adopted and pro- 

 claimed. Vittoria was chosen president and Bravo 

 vice-president of the new republic. The first con- 

 stitutional congress convened January 1, 1825, and 

 held an extraordinary session in August of the same 

 year. In December (20th), the castle of Ulloa was 

 surrendered by the Spaniards, and the whole Mexi- 

 can soil was now delivered from European hands. 

 The prospect of tranquillity which was held out by 

 the complete liberation of the country and organiza- 

 tion of the government was soon interrupted by the 

 violence of parties. The animosity of the Esco- 

 ceses and Yorkinos resulted in acts of outrage and 

 bloodshed, and the land has been distracted with 

 civil war. The Escoceses (Scotch) was a masonic 

 society of Scottish origin, composed of large proprie- 

 tors and persons of distinction, who were mostly 

 men of moderate principles, but decidedly favourable 

 to the cause of independence. Many of them had, at 

 one time, been in favour of a Spanish prince as con- 

 stitutional king of Mexico, and they were therefore 

 often styled Borbonistas by their adversaries. The 

 Vorkinos constituted a masonic society, which de- 

 rived its origin from a masonic lodge in New York, 

 through the agency of Mr Poinsett, American 

 minister at Mexico. These two political parties 

 (for such they had become) were arrayed against 

 each other on occasion of the choice of the second 

 president in 1828, and also differed as to the policy 



to be pursued in the treatment of the Spaniards who 

 resided in tlie country, the Yorkinos being in favour 

 of their entire expulsion from the country. The 

 result of the election, after an arduous contest, was 

 the triumph of the Escoces party, whose candidate, 

 general Pedraza, was chosen, by a majority of two 

 votes, over general Guerrero, the Yorkino candidate. 

 General Santana, at the head of a body of troops, 

 declared that this vote was not an expression of the; 

 will of the majority, and proclaimed Guerrero presi- 

 dent. This movement was unsuccessful, but an- 

 other was soon organized, and an armed body de- 

 manded the expulsion of the Spaniards. After some 

 fighting, the government was obliged to yield, and 

 general Pedraza, to avoid bloodshed, advised his 

 friends to submit, and expressed his determination to 

 leave the country. Guerrero was accordingly inau- 

 gurated president in April, 1829, and a law was 

 passed ordering all Spanish residents to quit the 

 country. In the summer of 1829, an expedition was 

 fitted out in the Havana, under the command of 

 general Barradas, to undertake the conquest of the 

 Mexican republic. A force of 4000 men was landed 

 at Tampico July 27, but on the 10th of September 

 surrendered to general Santana. But the dangers of 

 a foreign invasion were no sooner past than domestic 

 dissensions were again renewed. Guerrero, who had 

 been invested with dictatorial powers on the approach 

 of the invaders, was unwilling to resign them, and 

 this was made a pretext for the opposition of the dis- 

 contented. Bustamente, the vice-president, placed 

 himself at the head of a body of troops in December, 

 1829, and issued a proclamation denouncing the 

 abuses of the executive. He immediately advanced 

 upon the capital, and was joined by the forces there. 

 Guerrero, finding himself deserted, abdicated the 

 presidency, and Bustamente was elected by the 

 army his successor. In the latter part of 1830, new 

 disturbances commenced, and a civil war ensued. 

 Guerrero, who was made prisoner in February, 1831, 

 was condemned to death for bearing arms against 

 the established government, and shot. After this 

 period, Bustamente remained at the head of the 

 government, as vice-president. Besides the works 

 previously referred to, the reader may consult don 

 Carlos Maria Bustamente's Cuadro Historic*), or 

 Mendibil's Resumen Historico de la Rev. de los Es- 

 tados Unidos Meocicanos, extracted from it. 



Antiquities. Our knowledge of the early condi- 

 tion of the country since called Mexico, is derived, 

 in part, from the Mexican pictures, many of which 

 were destroyed by the Spaniards. They contain 

 chronological histories, and copies of some of them 

 were made by native Mexicans at the time of the 

 destruction of the originals. The greatest of these 

 was a celebrated table in the possession of Siguenza 

 y Gongora, professor of mathematics in the univer- 

 sity of Mexico, in 1698. The original is lost ; but a 

 copy of undoubted authenticity exists, of which 

 Humboldt has given an account. It begins witli 

 the deluge of Coxcox, or, according to the Aztec 

 cosmogony, the fourth destruction of the world. 

 Coxcox, with his wife, was saved from destruction, 

 their descendants received the gift of speech, and 

 ! fifteen families arrived in Mexico. According to a 

 Mexican author, who wrote soon after the conquest 

 (Ixtiloxchitl\ the first age, Ttatonatiuh, or age of 

 giants, lasted 5206 years ; the second, Tletonatiuh, 

 or age of fire, 4804 ; the third, Ehecatonatiuh, the 

 age of winds, 4010 ; the fourth, or age of water, 

 described in the above-mentioned painting, 4008 

 years. The Toltecs migrated from a country north 

 of Mexico, in A. D. 544, and in 1051, their mon- 

 archy was destroyed. The Aztecs arrived there, 

 from Aztlan in 1178, and, in 1325, founded Tenoch- 



