5 - Las Siete Leyes

Summary

Our imaginary typical hombre de bien must have been confused, not to say depressed, when he surveyed his country at the end of 1836. He had been glad to see the back of Gómez Farías and his sansculottes, who had seemed to threaten his moral, social and religious values, and he had welcomed the election of the new Congress, dominated as it was by men of his own social class. The conservative and centralist politicians had promised him progress with order, political calm and social stability in which his own standing as a respectable member of society would be protected and consolidated. Instead, he had seen Santa Anna defeated and the nation humiliated in Texas. His salary was not being paid, and the purchasing power of the money he had was declining as prices in the shops rose and even his basic food supplies became scarce and expensive. His taxes had been raised, and he had been required to contribute to the forced loan. He could no longer buy the foreign-made brandy and cigars he preferred or the European clothes and footwear, and even the cost of his occasional game of billiards had gone up. Although he no longer had to pay tithes on the vegetables grown in his garden or on his small rural retreat, the Church collector still came and appealed to his conscience and that disturbed him.