a more decided character. They began by immediately adopting the principle of the law, and applying it to the states, so as to exclude all native Spaniards from holding any office of trust or profit in the state, with various modifications of hardship to the disfranchised persons. Thus the state of Queretaro, by an act, under date of May 31st, which we have before us, decreed their suspension from office until Spain should acknowledge the independence of Mexico, continuing to them one half of their salaries, during their suspension. Soon afterwards, the state of Mexico prohibited all Spaniards in that state from wearing or using arms of any description, without special license from the governor.

Things remained in this posture during the summer; but at the close of it, the excitement and violence against the Spaniards broke forth in the most unrelenting persecution, The legislature of the state of Jalisco, had passed a decree for the expulsion from that state of all the native Spaniards resident there; and although the decree was discussed in the national senate in September, and pronounced unconstitutional by that branch of the legislature; yet the zeal of the states, and the activity of individuals, appeared likely to effect what congress declined to do, acting in behalf of the whole nation. A resolution was submitted in the

house of representatives, for the banishment of all Spanish ecclesiastics, and the confiscation of their property; but it did not obtain a majority of votes. In Acapulco and its neighbourhood, a movement was made by the natives against the Spaniards, which drove the latter to take refuge in the ships laying in the harbour, for the preservation of their lives. Here, and elsewhere, barbarous excesses were committed by the populace, such as pursuing the Spaniards in the streets with knives and swords; and the cry for blood was raised in some of the newspapers, and by individuals in congress, in a way to shock every friend of humanity and of social order.

In October, the state of Mexico passed a decree for the expulsion of all the Spanish clergy and priests from the territory of the state; and the transfer of all the church property in their hands, such as the convents, with their fur. niture, lands, and stock, images and ornaments of churches, and the like, to native ecclesiastics, under the direction of the governor of the state. This decree was passed on the 16th of October, and on the 23d ratified by the executive council, who ordered that it should go into complete operation within eight days from its publication. Indeed, a general excitement against the persecuted Spaniards, seemed to pervade the

whole country. At Oaxaca, Valladolid, Michoacan, and in other places, the people united in demanding their expulsion from the country. Some state legislatures were in favour of the banishment of all indiscriminately; others were for confining the sentence to the unmarried, and those who had been resident in the country only for a certain period. Some gave authority to the Spaniards to carry away all their property; others limited the permission. Thus Guadalaxara prohibited their removing any property exceeding five hundred dollars in amount.Early in December, also, a popular commotion was excited in Vera Cruz against the proscribed class, and only appeased by the municipality's yielding to the pub. lic voice. Indeed, no alternative seemed left to the unfortunate Spaniards, whom choice or accident had fixed in Mexico, but to escape as speedily as possible from a country, where they and their property seemed devoted as a sacrifice, to appease the popular fury. The latest official act on the subject, which we have seen, is the decree of the legislature of Vera Cruz, requiring all Spaniards, under fifty years of age, or who have not borne arms in the war of independence, with certain specified exceptions, to leave the country within thirty days. There is great cause to apprehend that the public excitement against

the Spaniards, by compelling them to sacrifice their property, and expelling from the country a whole class of persons, may have inju. rious effects upon the prosperity of Mexico, analogous to those which Spain sustained from the expulsion of the Moors. Indeed, many of the circumstances of the present case are calculated to call to mind the causes and consequences of the other; and it is therefore to be hoped, that the national congress may moderate, rather than yield, unresistingly, to the pressure of the popular excitement.

Much interest was felt in the trial and execution of Padre Arenas, a native of New Castile, and` friar of St. Diego, who was detected in a plot against the republic, in favour of Spain, and condemned to be shot for his treasonable attempt. His ecclesiastical habit occasioned much delay in the execution of the sentence pronounced upon him by the council of war. The Spaniards themselves, during the revolution, were not so scrupulous about forms in putting to death Hidalgo, Morelos, and other priests, who fell into their power. But it is to the honour of the Mexican government, that they allowed the ecclesiastical tribunal to proceed in the regular mode to degrade Are. nas, according to the canon law, before ordering his execution. It showed the strength of the adminis. tration, which found it unnecessa

ry to pursue the harsh and hasty measures which disgraced their opponents during the revolution. It is probable, however, that the ecclesiastical courts felt no disposition to facilitate the punishment of Arenas ; and the Mexican newspapers complained in no very moderate terms, of the frivolous pretexts, which it was said the ecclesiastical courts availed themselves of to gain time. In consequence of these delays, Manuel Segura, another of the conspirators, who was apprehended long after Arenas, was tried, condemned, and executed, before the proceedings against the latter were brought to a close. Much as we should deprecate the existence of such a system of laws, still we think credit is due to the government, for suffering them to take their course, particularly in such a case.

At length, however, the order for the execution of Arenas was signed, and the time and place for it appointed. At half past twelve in the night, between the 1st and 2d of June, Arenas was devested of his clerical habit, and clothed in lay habiliments; and at one the same morning, he was taken from the prison in a coach, accompanied only by the necessary officers, and a single company of guards, who marched with the greatest silence and circumspection, to the quarters of the horse artillery, where the prisoners received re

freshments, and religious consolation. Proceeding in the same order, at 5 o'clock A. M. they took the road to Chapultepec, where suitable preparations had been made for the execution. On arriving here, the strength and spirits of the crimi. nal failed him altogether; and being unable to walk from the coach, he was carried, or rather dragged, to the fatal spot, by five of the soldiers, composing the guard, and received the shot in his back. His body, after remaining exposed for three hours as a public spectacle, was delivered up to the monks of his community, and carried by them to the convent of Tacubaya, to be secretly interred. Much dissatisfaction was occasioned by the precautions adopted by the government, to have Arenas executed in private. The populace of Mexico had counted confidently upon enjoying the triumph of such a scene; and their disappointment was extreme, when they found that, by reason of the earliness of the hour, and the remoteness of the place of execution, they were deprived of the anticipated gratification. But the course pursued was evidently, in the existing circumstances of the case, the most politic and humane; and was creditable to the judgment of Sr. Ramos Arizpe, the secretary, to whom the measure was ascribed.

Previous to this time, the arrest

of two generals of division, D. Pedro Celestino Negrete, and D. Jose Antonio Echavarri, accused of being implicated in the conspiracy of Arenas, had taken place; and the circumstances attending it produced great excitement. These officers were both distinguished in the revolution; and although Spaniards, had been active in the cause of independence, and in opposition to Iturbide. On the 21st of March, at midnight, they were both arrested, and sent under a strong guard, Negrete to the fortress of Acapulco, and Echvarri to that of Perote. The opposition papers represented this act as a violent infringement of the laws, and accused the government of violating the constitution, by an illegal arrest. The subject was discussed in the senate, on a complaint of the wife of general Negrete, against the secretary of war, demanding his trial for the alleged violation of the constitution. But the secretary successfully vindicated himself from the charge, by showing, that the arrests would have been lawful, even if made by order of the executive, under the 112th article of the constitution; but that in fact, the two generals were ap.. prehended on the accusations of private individuals, and by order of the competent judicial authorities. And on the 16th of May, the report of a committee of the senate, exculpating the government from all

blame, was accepted by a great majority of that body.

During the months of March and April, a local disturbance occurred in Durango, which, although it threatened serious consequences at first, was easily quelled in the end. On the 10th of March, lieutenantcolonel Jose Maria Gonzalez, commanding the national troops stationed in Victoria de Durango, revolted from the government, and putting himself at the head of a body of the soldiery, opened the prisons, and armed the prisoners; arrested the governor, dissolved the legislature, and established a revolutionary junta, to give their proceedings the form of law. Ill defined rumours prevailed as to their purpose, which was variously reported to be, either the dissolution of the federal system, or the elevation of a son of Iturbide to the throne.

Half the state-congress escaped, but Gonzalez compelled the rest of the members to assemble to sit as the true legislative body. The local authorities found it impossible to restore order. They despatched a messenger in secret to obtain succour from the commandant general of the state, D. Jose Joaquin Ayestaran; and a part of the troops, who remained faithful to their duty, marched out to meet him; but they were intercepted by Gonzalez, and compelled or persuaded to join themselves to

his standard. In consequence of this, the members of the legislature advised the governor to desire Ayestaran to retire.

Intelligence of these proceedings reaching the capital whilst congress was in session, that body instantly took effective measures for redu. cing the seditious soldiery to submission. On the 24th of March, both houses passed a resolution for placing three thousand of the militia at the disposal of the president of the republic, for the pacification of Durango; and declared null and void all the acts and decrees of the authorities of that state, extorted from them by coercion or intimidation. The executive promptly adopted effective measures for bringing the rioters to obedience. General Parres, who was sent against them to restore order, entered Durango on the 11th of April, with a small party of dragoons; and on his appearance, the disaffected soldiers abandoned their leader, Gonzalez, and passed over to the general, with all their officers, except two, who escaped with Gonzalez himself. The insurrection, which had threatened evil consequences to the republic, was thus happily terminated; serving, however, to demonstrate the inconvenience of the large standing army maintained by the Mexicans.

The government easily succeeded, also, in suppressing the idle and absurd movement of those persons

in the Texas, who pretended to affect the separation of that province from Mexico. They found more difficulty in putting a stop to the ravages of the Yaquis indians, in the province of Sonora; but this object they finally accomplished. But disorders of various kinds occurred in another quarter of the republic, where a better spirit might have been supposed to exist: We allude to the series of incidents, wherein the state of Vera Cruz bore so prominent a part, and which we now proceed to relate.

Political parties in Mexico at the present time are distinguished by the name of the masonic rite, which each is supposed to countenance. Our readers may not all understand that a schism exists among the English masons, who are divid. ed into York masons and Scottish masons, from the respective sources whence they derive their rites. One party in Mexico is called el de Escocia or Escoceses; the other Yorkinos; names having intrinsically about as much meaning as the epithets of whig and tory, which distinguish political parties in England; but possessing, like the last, a very definite appli cation. The Escoceses are composed of the higher orders of the clergy, who were bitterly disappointed by the issue of the revolu. tion of Iguala; of the aristocracy; of the monarchists, many of whom would rejoice to see a member of