indeed, any want of good intentions, on the part of the Junta; but the supremacy of its members was not, at first, generally acknowledged; and when, by the accession of Morelos, they acquired additional influence, the destruction of their residence by Căllējă, and the preparations for the Congress of Chilpănzīngŏ, in which the Junta, itself, was, finally, merged, prevented any decisive measures from being taken. It left, however, some lasting memorials of its existence. I know few papers drawn up with greater moderation, or better calculated to produce a good, practical effect, than the Manifesto, with the proposals for Peace, or War, which was transmitted, in the name of the Junta, to the Viceroy, in the month of March, 1812.
After an eloquent picture of the state, to which fifteen months of civil war had reduced the country, and an appeal to the Viceroy, respecting the manner in which the miseries inseparable from any state of warfare, had been augmented by the wanton sacrifice of the prisoners. Dr. Cos (by whom this manifesto was drawn up) proceeds to point out to Venegas his critical position; the little dependence which he could place upon the Creole troops, who, sooner or later, must make common cause with their countrymen; the rapid progress of the Revolution, and the total inefficacy of all the measures of severity, by which he had endeavoured to check it. He then assumes, as undeniable principles, the
