sembled, which contained
three parties, the representatives of those which existed in the
country:--1. The Bourbonists, who desired that the Plan of Iguala should
be adhered to in all its details; 2. The Iturbideans, who wished for a
monarchy, with their chief as Emperor; and, 3. The Republicans, who were
hostile to monarchical institutions as well as to Spanish rule. It is
possible that the first party might have triumphed, had Spain been under
the dominion of sagacious men; for the clergy must have preferred it,
not only because it was that polity under which they were sure to have
most consideration, but because the whole power of Rome might have been
brought to bear in its behalf, and that the clergy never would have
seriously thought of resisting;--and the influence of the clergy was
great over the mass of the people. But the Spanish government would not
ratify the treaty made by O'Donoju, or abandon its claim on Mexico. This
left but two factions in the Congress, and their quarrel had a sudden
termination, for the moment, in the elevation of Iturbide to the
imperial throne, May 18th, 1822. This was the work of a handful of the
lowest rabble of the capital, the select few of a vagabondage compared
with whom the inhabitants of the Five Points may be counted grave
constitutional politicians. The legislature went through the farce of
approval, and the people acquiesced,--as they would have done, had he
been proclaimed Cham. Had Iturbide understood his trade, he might have
reigned long, perhaps have established a dynasty; but he did what nearly
every Mexican chief since his time has done, and what, to be just,
nearly every revolutionary government has sought to do: he endeavored to
establish a tyranny. He dissolved the Congress, substituting a Junta for
it, composed of his own adherents. The consequence was revolt in various
parts of the empire. Santa Ana, then Governor of Vera Cruz, "pronounced"
against the Emperor; and Echavari, who was sent to punish him, played
the same part toward Iturbide that Iturbide had played toward Apodaca:
he joined the enemies of the imperial government. As Iturbide had
triumphed over the viceroy by the aid of men of all parties but that of
the old Spaniards, so was he overthrown by a coalition of an equally
various character. He gave up the crown, after having worn it not quite
ten months, and was allowed to depart, with the promise of an annual
pension of twenty-five thousand dollars. Seek