Star.
London, England, 1825-07-18 00:00:00

mbuck

SPEECH of HIS HICELLVIICT THE PRESIDENT Or THE
(MITZI) KERMAN
.STATILII; ON CLDSING THE SESSION
017 VIE CONSTITUTIONAL FEDERAL CONGRESS.
41 Gentlemen of the Federal Congress—ln conformity
with the constitutional law, I laid before the Chambers
in January of the present year, the state of the Republic ;
and I now have the honour of announcing, that from
that time to the present, our situation has been sensibly
improving, and that our nation, far from retrograding
or becoming weaker, has been acquiring strength, and
advancing in the career of prosperity and power.
" The federal bond has been generally preserved and
consolidated. The greater part of the States have sanc-
tioned their Constitution, or are about to do:so. Each of
them labours in establishing or in rectifying its admi-
nistration. An of them will shew an emulation and
teal, as they have pal tly done, to supply the contingent
which corresp,,nds with their extent, and without which
theiustitutions by which we are governed would become
inert and powerless. In a word, looking at the data
which we have on this head, and the good fortune
and happiness with which Heaven has hitherto ad-
vanced the fortunes of the Republic, we may hope that
each State, proceeding in its own orbit, towards its own
poi, wit h(att neglecting that of the Federations and re-
'oh ing (if we may be allowed the expression) around the
common Government, will exhibit, in political order,
an imposing spectacle of equilibrium,with the precision
• • and the harmony which distingishes the great masses
of our universe.
" The Executive Power has neither lost, nor could
lose sight of morals and knowledge; and to promote
what regards them, a Junta is actually occupied in a
great project of public education, in order that Mexi-
cnns may no longer be under the necessity of going in
se-arch cf improvement to other countries. At the same
time, edablishments tending to promote the dignity and
II e grandeur of the lt,-public, its agriculture, together
with its commerce and Indus ry, have all been ad-
vancing in n manner very perceptible to those who,
casting their eyes back upon past times, recollect their
co. dition in the days of our humiliation and slavery.
Thus the idea is produced and confirmed in us,
that the spit i. of regula•ing everything by the Govern-
ment, and of mixing with everything, is the most effi-
cacious means which it can employ to diminish or 1)4-

nish, perhaps for ever, abundance and wealth ; and
that, on the contrary, to introduce and encourage them,
an enlightened and beneficent administration ought
only to remove important obstacles, leaving the test to
the action and inter est of individuals.

" At present, in what respects the management and
direction of the finances, the labours which have been
completed, and those which have beets prepared, are
immense. Confining myself to the results, the Cham
hers should be acquainted that the army has been paid,
that the military magazines have been provided, that
the civil list has been satisfied, that the last loan has
been teali.ed on advantageous terms, that their sub-
sizteace-money and credit have been paid to the culti-
vators of tobacco, that a part of the debt has been ex-
tinguished, that paper money no longer exists, that a
considerable quantity of arms and all sorts of stores
have been acquired, and that funds have been allocated
at-different places for the purchase of vessels (of war),
that a system of order and economy has been intro-
duced which has saved large sums, and that the admi-
nistration of the public money only needs for its conso-
lidation and perfection a decision on some projects
submitted to the Legislative Body.
" The military branch is likewise proceeding towards
a sensible improvement. The corps of all arms are
completing. D'scipline is re-establishing. The law
on desertion will powerfully contribute to promote this
object. At the same time, the State of Chiapas has
heels garrisoned. Our frontier on the West and the
North has been fortified with particular attention to the
side of Tejas; and the labours which have been un-
dettaken, and are still prosecuted, to form a general
plan of defence (for which engineers, formed among
our*elves, have gone to draw plans of our coasts,
mountains, and appl ()aches) will always do honour to
the know 'lege of the Mexican Staff, and evince, in a
decisive man, er, the vigilance and circumspection of
the Exectstive Power.

As regard. our navy, although it has been well
suppled and ma 'aged, yet, if we attend to the num-
ber and force of our vessels, it may be said, that it has
scarce passed its infancy. The Government had
.I:ought that tl.ey might reckon by this time upon a
respectable force in bo h seas; but inevitable obstacles
have, till now, deo ited us of that assistance which we
shall indubit bly obtain in a few months. In the mean
time, an expedition has sailed to provide the Californias
with all kinds of assistance. Our port of Manzanillo,
one of the most secure, spacious, and magnificent of
the glob., has been ordered to be repaired ; and the
port of Galveston has been fortified. Orders have been
tiven to construct gun-boats in our territory, by
which means our resources will multiply, civilization
will advance, commerce will increase, and that which
ought to interest us the most—the art of ship-building,
of which we so much stand in need, especially in the
Pacific, will 134 gin to prosper.
Our judicial administration was incomplete and
lame, before we possessed a Supreme Court to decide
tp.e.:tions of general interest, and to provide for what
I Le territory and the finances of the Federation require.
But, fortunately, on the 15th of March, the Supreme
Court of Justice was installed. The PoWers of the
State are now in the plenitude of their exercise, and
•hen the law which regulates in detail its jurisdiction
and proceedings shall be concluded, the chaos into
which we were plunged by the want of it will be re-
moved. Thus, although some disagreeable occurrences
may have taken place in the meantime, and some iso-
lated disturbances may have been exhibited, consider-
ing things in general, and taking a rapid view of our
interior, we shall be convinced that order and union
exist in the Republic—that the Government is consoli-
dating at a -rapid rate—that the germs of our well