Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1845-06-26

chihuahua l47, 600 San Luis Potosi 32l $40
sCoahuila 75,340 SinaIoa 1000
durango I62,6I6 Sonora $4,000
Guanaiuato 5l2,606 Tabasco $3.50
fJaIiscs 679,31I Tamaulipas 100,06S
Mexico 1,3S9,520 Vera Cruz 254,3S0
; Michoacan 497, 800 Yucatan $50, 9z6.
sNuevo-Leon l01 los Zacatecas 273,575
Iosiaca 5Oo,27s 6~,9e2,o7O
4 To which add the CALIFORNIA;, with a population
ESTIMATED three years since at only 80, 439, but some
I what greater at the present time. y.
Of the whole populatian of (say) 1000, 900 souls,
lit is estimated that not more than one-seventh are
kwhites; the remaining six-sevenths consisting of
Indians and half-breeds, with some few negroes.
s For political purposes, the inhabitants are divided
Einto-
: 1. Mexicahs, as distinguished from foreigners.
IAN Mexicans are nOminaly free; but they do mott
kof course, possess political rights, for these are con-
Efned to-
j 2. Citizens, who consist of such Mexicans of the
sage of twenty-one years, if unmarried, or eighteen
years, if married, as possess a yearly income Of two
HUNDRED dollars, derived from capital, industry, or
Ehonest labor.
i The Government, of the republic is composed Of the
following principal cival furctionaries, elected or
in the manner hereafter described
/. The President.
2. The Executive Ministers.
3. The Congress, composed Of a Senate and q
of Deputies.
A. The Council of State.
5. The Supreme Court.
n VI ZIG DCDdlO lCA "a
Z. The Governors of Departments.
3 Popular elections are to be holden throughout the
krepublic biennially. All the inhabitants of each de-
apartment are supposed to be divided into Pdrttdos Of
$500 each, the citizens In which choose primary elect
kors at the rate of one for each partidO the primary
Eelectors then meet and choose secondary electors at
1.-THE rate of one secondary for every twenty primary
selectors all of whom, primary and secondary, are
trequired to have each a yearly income of five hundred
and the secondary electors, chosen by this
kdouble process, constitute, In each department., its
electoral college, by whom are elected the deputies to
Ethe Congress, and the members of the assembly of
1.-THE department.; which last elect the President of the
arepublic and two-thirds of the Senators.
1. The President of the republic. He is elected
sfor five years, and is required to be a natiye-born
'scitizen, forty years of age, and of secular condition.
powers and duties resemble those of the President
III of the United States but he cannot exercise any one
Eof his attributes without the fundamentally Of the
Eminister to whose branch of the public service the act
sEto be performed belongs. And, among other disa-
abilities, he is expressly forbidden to ALLEVIATE, cedes
Eexchange, or hypothecate, any part of the territory Of
I &the republic and he cannot, without the permission
s of Congress, command the military and naval forces
Eof the republic in person, nor depart more than six
S leagues distant from the seat of Government. In
I Hcase of the sudden i~ncapacity or absence of the
4 President, his functions devolve on the President Of
e 1.-THE Council of State; if the i~ncapacity or absence be
4 kof longer duration than fifteen days, but still tempo
rary, the Senate chooses a provisional President.
2. The ministers, who are appointed by the Presi-
J Hdent, are four, namely:
One of foreign relations, state. and police.
One of justice, ecclesiastical affairs, public instruc-
Etlon, and industry.
Ri One of treasury.
One of war and navy.
8. Congress consists of the Senate and the Cham.
! L Sber of Deputies. 49,
The Senate is composed of sixty-three members;
Rejected for six years, renewable In classes every two
u wears, as in the United States two-thirds Of each
L Eclass being elected by the departmental assemblies,
( IL nd ono+hird bv the President of the reDuhllc and the
,'ESupreme Court.
n The Chamber of Deputies is composed of members
Echosen by the electoral colleges of the departments,
: in the ratio of one deputy for every seventy thousand
u inhabitants, and one for each fraction exceeding half
= = kthe number, and one at least for each department.
n,s The whole number is now l04.
"a All bills originate in the Chamber of Deputies !,
but the Senate and the President participate In their
enactment into laws, rs in the United States.
A. The Council of State consists of seventeen
regular members appointed for life by the President,
Ito which are added all persons who have been Presi-
Edent of the republic or minister for a years time, all
Swho have received from Congress the honorary rank OF
seabene meritoS de Ia pGtrid, and some others.
). The Supreme Court. This body consists Of
eleven Judges, elected by the departmental assemblies,
= kwho try i-mpeachments and all other questions involv-
Eing the acts of the civil functionaries of the republic.
~ 6. The departmental assemblies are possessed Of
!, !, ~various minor local functions, in subordinationa always
Ito the legal authority of Congress.
Z. THE Governors of departments are appointed by
Ethe President. 2
To complete this brief exposition Of the frame work
Eof the Mexican republic, it is necessary to state that
lit was established by the direct intervention of the
NJ Earmv, and that it gives to them large power In the
+ %affairs of the republic. The President may be, and
~ always has been, a general, in actual commission as
such officers Of the army are ministers and members
u i&of Congress public affairs are discussed and votes
I'd taken thereupon by the troops as such; and each
is ~department has its commandant general-that is, Its
+ military chief, as well as Its political Governor. And
when it is considered that the Government thus be-
.tHcomes a kind of military hierarchy that freedom of
! .kconscience is forbidden by the organic basis; that
faccording to trustworthy estimates) not one in seven
of the Inhabitants are able to read and write; that
tie Governing class (women and children ~included)
consists of only one-seventh of the population that
Y the complicated system of elections tends still more
'us Ito restrict and exclude popular influence; that all the
" Resources of the country are squandered on a large
7, n STANDING army and that thus every year or two wit
. q Hnesses a civil war and a military revolution in the
:, sGoyernment when all these things are considered,
Git will be easy to comprehend the state of disorRani-
nagzation and misrule which weighs down the Mexican
ERepubic. n 3.
~ FALLING INTO A FoRrUNE.-An Irishman, not long
q Hsince, digging for lead in the district Of Dubuque,
md Iowa fell through the bottom of the hole into a large