This view they supported in a representation to the córtes, wherein Calleja stood accused as the main cause for all existing trouble, partly for neglecting to let the constitution prevail.[1] Indeed, if we except the clauses relating to tribunals and elections, the organic law remained a dead letter. Not only did Calleja retain his power as viceroy, but by allowing the attributes of the audiencia to decline, and the administration of justice to became involved, and by nullifying to a great extent the effect of the elections, he obtained more unrestrained control of affairs. Nor can he be blamed for acting as he did, levying funds and troops, suppressing the liberty of the press, and otherwise encroaching on the prerogatives of the córtes; for the situation was critical, and in order to perform his duty as royal representative and agent for Spain, arbitrary measures were needed.[2]
The insurgents, as we have seen, had risen with renewed strength after the apparently crushing disaster at Cuautla, and occupied at the time of Calleja's entry into office the greater part of the region south of a line drawn from Tampico to Lagos and Colima. "The government," writes the viceroy himself, "could barely claim anything else than the capitals of the provinces, and even one of these, perhaps the richest, Oajaca, was absolutely lost."[3] Morelos controlled
- ↑ It was prepared by Comoto, editor of Amigo de la Patria, and a protégé of Venegas; and among the municipal members who signed it were Arrillaga and Ignacio Esteva, the latter a native of the town, both suspected of holding intercourse with the insurgents, and later holding ministerial posts under the republic. The document was secretly intrusted to Oidor Bodega, on his way to Spain; but on his arrival Fernando had changed the aspect of affairs, and he held back the paper, thus saving the signers; yet Calleja was informed of the facts by his friends. Bustamante reproduces the document in Cuad. Hist., iv. 8-22; Mendíbil, Resúmen Hist., 286-7.
- ↑ It is curious to note that decrees had been issued imposing severe penalties on all who refused to take the oath to the constitution, although so little effort was made to carry out its provisions, or demand fulfilment of the oath. Another decree substituted the word 'national' for 'royal' in all public papers. In June of this year a special law was made in Spain to regulate the sustained liberty of the press. Text in Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., v. 65-73.
- ↑ His later proclamation, in Bustamante, Camp. Calleja, app. 7.
