Arizona citizen., 1878-11-16
Sonora AfdirS.

on pubic affairs Tn Sonora that would
 be reliable We have been kindly furnished by a resident of this city
 with the letter printed herewith which doubtless will be of interest to ouI
 readers. The writer, AIr NJ. NJ. Co
 rella, is member of the Sonora Senate, from the district containing
 Magdalena, and Is so well known in
 Tucson as to require no further intro duction from us:
 MAGDALENA, SONORA, Nov. ,, 1878
 My DEAR FRIEND:-I have been
 intending 10 write to you before this and give you an account of the polit itical and other difficulties of thls un.
 fortunate State, but lack of leisure has prevented me from doing so. To-day
 l shall devote a few minutes of my spare time 10 telling you something of our complications and that not with
 out a deep sense of regret, for it is painful indeed to have to record such troubles as originated in Sonora over a
 half a year ago and which will ter
 minate God only knows when.
 At the very outset I must acknowl edge most remarkable fact, that un
 less it were entirely due 10 personal
 motives, it is beyond me to compre
 bend the real origin of the causes iha
 subsequently led to Ihe final division
 of the members of the Legislature
 As far as l am able 10 trace back clear ! ly the source, one evening in the latter part of last March, Ortiz, one of tho regular members of the Legislature
 and the leading Representative of the opponents To the Government, me
 furtiYely with five substitute members
 to take the oath of another substitute who had not been admitted 10 the Legislature up to that lime and who
 was friendly to Ortiz. Cine Legisla tu.es of the Mexican States are com posed of regular Representatives and substitute members, the latter taking tAe place of the former in case of their a6sence) The object of these gentle men was to form themselves into d body of seven, a number which they enormously argued constituted quor- um. They were unquesiionabiy in the wrong first, in not SummOning five regular Representatives q myself be- Ing one of the latter) who were in the city, and secondly, in holding q meet ing at an hour contrary tD the internal regulations of the Legislature, except in extraordinary cases and then only by common consent of the body. Two or three nights aftcrt the one spoken of, Ortiz and the substitutes, now number ing SIX, entirely Ignoring the presence iu the capital ot the five regular Repre- sentatives, held q meeting in their own private rooms and decided 10 re- move the Legislature to Hermosillo, another unconstitutional act Since then troubles have succeeded troubles and you have undoubtedly heard of the dastardly attempt 10 murder Gov. Marlscal one evening last month The murderer has, of course, left the cOun- try, and so have Lieutenant Governor Serna, Ortiz, and some of the other opposing Representatives, the latter through fear that they would be pro- secuted for complicIty Tn the attempted murder During all lhIs time the Coy erumcnt has been Jeff with no power tJ collect taxes and has, consequently, been without resources, so as you may imagine, il has been labOrIng under great difficulties to sustain itself. We think, however, that our troubles are now partially at an end, and that the Constitutional Legislature will meet in the early part of this month. The five regular members ignored by the Ortiz party, having failed to induce the lat ter to meet with them and form a Constitutional body, called upon the Executive sometime ago 10 have cleo tions of Representatives held at Quay mas. where no elections took place last year, and at Hermosiilo and Monte zuma where vacancies had occurred through resignation and death. The Governor had said elections called, and, though the result is not as yet definitely known 10 us here, we have every reason to believe they have been peaceably and satisfactorily verified. In such an event there will De enough members for a quorum, and the wheels of government will again be in motion.
 Furthermore, Ortiz not only sue ceeded in dividing the members of Congress, but he managed so skillfully as to split the whole State into Marls- cal and Serna party. The people showed no judgement in allowing themselves to be thus divided, because outside citizens should have kept them selves aloof from taking sides. Even more, the whole State in mass should have held the members of the Legisla- ture responsible for their acts. For, isI it not crime that over one hundred thusand people should suffer the con- seouences arising from d personal quarrel between TWO legislators? And right here let me confess great fault of our nationality; we MeXicans al. ways adhere 10 d man, that Is, to a.