ARTICLES OF THE TREATY. 



•17 



desirous of avoiding the evils that necessarily fall 

 upon the people in changes of this description, and 

 of reconciling the interests of Old and New Spain, 

 he invited the First Chief of the imperial army, 

 Don Augustine de Iturbide, to an interview, in 

 order to discuss the great question of independence, 

 disentangling, without destroying, the bonds which 

 had connected the two continents. This interview 

 took place in the town of Cordova, on the 24th of 

 August, 1821, and the former, under the character 

 with which he came invented, and the latter as 

 representing the Mexican empire, having conferred 

 at large upon the interests of each nation, looking 

 to their actual condition, and to recent occur- 

 rences, agreed to the following articles, which they 

 signed in duplicate, for their better preservation, 

 each party keeping an original for greater security 

 and validity. 



" 1st, This kingdom of America shall be recog- 

 nised as a sovereign and independent nation, and 

 shall, in future, be called the Mexican Empire. 



" 2d, The government of the empire shall be 

 monarchical, limited by a constitution. 



" 3d, Ferdinand VII., Catholic King of Spain, 

 shall, in the first place, be called to the throne of 

 the Mexican empire, (on taking the oath prescribed 

 in the 10th Article of the Plan,) and on his refusal 

 and denial, his brother, the most serene infante 

 Don Carlos ; on his refusal and denial, the most 

 serene infante Don Francisco de Paula ; on his 

 refusal and denial, the most serene Don Carlos 

 Luis, infante of Spain, formerly heir of Tuscany, 

 now of Lucca ; and upon his renunciation and 

 denial, the person whom the Cortes of the empire 

 shall designate. 



" 4th, The emperor shall fix his'court in Mexico, 

 which shall be the capital of the empire. 



" 5th, Two commissioners shall be named by 

 his Excellency Senor O'Donaju, and these shall 

 proceed to the court of Spain, and place in the 

 hands of his Majesty King Ferdinand VII. a copy 

 of this treaty, and a memorial which shall accom- 

 pany it, for the purpose of affording information to 

 his Majesty with respect to antecedent circum- 

 stances, whilst the Cortes of the empire offer him 

 the crown with all the formalities and guarantees 

 which a matter of so much importance requires ; 

 and they supplicate his Majesty, that on the oc- 

 currence of the case provided for in article 3, he 

 would be pleased to communicate it to the most 

 serene infantes called to the crown in the same 

 article, in the order in which they are so named ; 

 and that his Majesty would be pleased to interpose 

 his influence, and prevail on one of the members 

 of his august family to proceed to this empire : 

 inasmuch as the prosperity of both nations would 

 be thereby promoted, and as the Mexicans would 

 feel satisfaction in thus strengthening the bonds of 

 friendship with which they may be, and wish to 

 see themselves, united to the Spaniards. 



" 6th, Conformably to the spirit of the < Plan of 

 Iguala,' an assembly shall be immediately named, 

 composed of men the most eminent in the empire 

 for their virtues, their station, rank, fortune, and 

 influence ; men marked out by the general opinion, 

 whose number may be sufficiently considerable to 

 insure by their collective knowledge the safety of 

 the resolutions which they may take in pursuance 

 of the powers and authority granted them by the 

 following articles. 



" 7th, The assembly mentioned in the preceding 

 article shall be called the ' Provisional Junta of 

 Government.' 



" 8th, Lieutenant-General Don Juan O'Donaju 

 shall be a member of the Provisional Junta of 

 Government, in consideration of its being expedient 

 that a person of his rank should take an active 

 and immediate part in the government, and of the 

 indispensable necessity of excluding some of the 

 individuals mentioned in the above Plan of Iguala, 

 conformably to its own spirit. 



" 9th, The Provisional Junta of Government 

 shall have a president elected by itself from its 

 own body, or from without it, to be determined by 

 the absolute plurality of votes ; and if on the first 

 scrutiny the votes be found equal, a second scrutiny 

 shall take place, which shall embrace those two 

 who shall have received the greatest number of 

 votes. 



" 10th, The first act of the Provisional Junta 

 shall be the drawing up of a manifesto of its in- 

 stallation, and the motives of its assemblage, 

 together with whatever explanations it may deem 

 convenient and proper for the information of the 

 country, with respect to the public interests, and 

 the mode to be adopted in the election of deputies 

 for the Cortes, of which more shall be said here- 

 after. 



" 1 1 th, The Provisional Junta of Government, 

 after the election of its president, shall name a 

 regency composed of three persons selected from 

 its own body, or from without it, in whom shall 

 be vested the executive power, and who shall 

 govern in the name and on behalf of the monarch, 

 till the vacant throne be filled. 



" 1 2th, The Provisional Junta, as soon as it is 

 installed, shall govern ad interim according to the 

 existing laws, so far as they may not be contrary 

 to the * Plan of Iguala,' and until the Cortes shall 

 have framed the constitution of the state. 



" 1 3th, The Regency, immediately on its nomi- 

 nation, shall proceed to the convocation of the 

 Cortes in the manner which shall be prescribed 

 by the Provisional Junta of Government, conform- 

 ably to the spirit of article No. 7, in the aforesaid 

 * Plan.' 



" 14th, The executive power is vested in the 

 Regency, and the legislative in the Cortes ; but 

 as some time must elapse before the latter can 

 assemble, and in order that the executive and 

 legislative powers should not remain in the hands 

 of one body, the junta shall be empowered to 

 legislate ; in the first place, where cases occur 

 which are too pressing to wait till the assembling 

 of the Cortes, and then the Junta shall proceed in 

 concert with the Regency ; and, in the second 

 place, to assist the Regency in its determinations in 

 the character of an auxiliary and consultative body. 



" 15th, Every individual, who is domiciled 

 amongst any community, shall, on an alteration 

 taking place in the system of government, or on 

 the country passing under the dominion of another 

 prince, be at full liberty to remove himself, together 

 with his effects, to whatever country he chooses, 

 without any person having the right to deprive 

 him of such liberty, unless he have contracted 

 some obligation with the community to which he 

 had belonged, by the commission of a crime, or 

 by any other of those modes, which publicists have 

 laid down ; this applies to the Europeans residing 



