assembly was to decide upon a definitive form of government, by the votes of at least two thirds of the members. If, after three days' balloting, the requisite majority had not been obtained, then the junta superior was to dissolve the assembly, and call other 215 citizens, with the privilege of reëlecting some of the members of the preceding one. After determining the form of government, the asamblea was to give its attention to such affairs as might be brought before it by the executive. The first session of this body was to last five days, the executive having the privilege of extending it. Its work was to be done in secret session, but its resolutions or acts authenticated by the president and secretaries might be given to the press.[1] The members of the executive were required to distribute among themselves the six government portfolios, appointing and removing their subordinates. They were jointly the executive, and as such might promulgate or veto, as they deemed proper, the resolutions of the asamblea de notables; and their functions were to cease immediately upon the installation of the definitive government proclaimed by said assembly.
Pursuant to that organic statute, Forey, on the 18th of June, confirmed the nominations made by Saligny to constitute the junta superior de gobierno.[2] This body became installed on the 18th, and on the 21st elected the three persons who were to constitute the executive authority, namely, Juan Nepomuceno Al-
- ↑ Neither the members of the junta superior, nor those of the asamblea, were to receive any pay.
- ↑ Among its members were some who had prominently figured in the country's past history, such as José Ignacio Pavon, Manuel Diez de Bonilla, Teodosio Lares, Francisco Javier Miranda, generals Mora y Villamil and Adrian Woll, Fernando Mangino, Juan Hierro Maldonado, General Santiago Blanco, and others. Méx., Boletin Ley., 1863, 55-6; Periód. Ofic. Imp. Mex., July 21, 1863; Lefêvre, Doc. Maximiliano, i. 283-4; Zarco, La Junta de los 35, in La Estrella de Occid., Sept. 11, 1863. This last authority positively asserts that upwards of six out of the 35 were beggars, 'vivian de pedir limosna,' which guaranteed their christian humility, and stamped the new order of things with an almost democratic origin; there were also among them a number of decrepit men and imbeciles.
