and Guerrero, two men of diametrically opposite ideas regarding government, united their efforts to accomplish their country's freedom, and that both met with death by public execution at the hands of the same political party.
Guerrero left a wife, María Guadalupe Hernandez, a daughter aged 18, named María Dolores, and a nephew, Prudencio Catalan, for whose education provision was made in his will. The widow was appointed executor of the estate.
The Jalapista party was held by the nation answerable for Guerrero's execution. The treachery by means of which the ministers effected his capture was never forgiven them.[1] After their downfall the sentence was considered a murder, and Alaman, Facio, and Espinosa were impeached on that and other charges;[2] but the accused were never convicted, for the reason that the proceedings were lengthened out, and eventually the case became a party question.[3]
- ↑ Picaluga, for his share in the vile transaction, was sentenced by the admiralty count in Genoa to death, and to pay damages, but escaped punishment, never having returned to his country. Zamacois, Hist. Méj., xii. 223, gives the sentence in Italian. Gonzalez, the officer who captured Guerrero and superintended his execution, died covered with leprous sores. Rivera, Gob. de Méx., ii. 141.
- ↑ The house of representatives constituted as a grand jury indicted the three, exempting Minister Mangino. Mex., Proceso Instruct., 254-5.
- ↑ Alaman and Facio had hidden themselves, the latter escaping to Europe. While at that safe distance he published a book entitled Memoria que sobre los sucesos del tiempo de su ministerio, y sobre la causa intentada contra los cuatro ministros. Paris, 1835, 8vo, 245 pp., and an app. of 8 pp. In it the author, after denying the legality of the body that impeached him, goes on to state from his own standpoint the political events which took place in Mexico during Vice-president Bustamante's administration, endeavoring to defend its course, particularly in the execution of Guerrero and others of the federal party. He seems to have exhausted the vocabulary of abuse against his enemies, making at the same time revelations that are anything but honorable to the government of which he formed a part. Facio never figured again in Mexican politics, but his rank in the army was restored to him in 1835. Arrillaga, Recop., 1835, 482. Quite different in manner and style was Alaman in his Defensa del ex-ministro de relaciones D. Lúcas Alaman. Mexico, 1834, 8vo, xxii. and 126 pp. He was politic and suave, as behooved a man who was not yet out of danger. His arguments, like Facio's, were intended to show that the course of Bustamante's ministers was a wise and necessary one to secure peace and the best interests of the country. It is difficult to believe that the guiding mind of the administration had no knowledge of Facio's bargain with Picaluga. Be it as it may, he was finally acquitted of all culpability by the supreme court. Rivera, Gob. de Méx., ii. 145.
