two parties met in the plains which divide the towns of 1817. San Felipe* and San Juan.† The infantry of Mina, advancing upon the regulars, gave them one volley, and then charged with the bayonet; while the cavalry, after. breaking that of the enemy, turned upon the infantry already in confusion, and actually cut them to pieces. Castañon himself was killed, with three hundred and thirty-nine of his men ; and more than two hundred prisoners were taken. cesses of Mina. 41. 'Soon after, Mina took possession of the Hacienda 1. Other suc of Jaral, belonging to a Creole nobleman, but devoted to the royal cause. The owner of the estate fled at the approach of the troops, but one of his secret hoards was discovered, from which about two hundred thousand dollars in silver were taken, and transferred to Mina's military chest. ment of his reverses. "To counterbalance these advantages, the 2 Commence fort at Soto la Marina was obliged to capitulate; and thirty-seven men and officers, the little remnant of the garrison, grounded their arms before fifteen hundred of the enemy. At the same time Mina's exertions to organize a respectable force in the Baxio were counteracted by the jealousy of the Padre Torres, who could not be induced to co-operate with a man, of whose superior abilities he was both jealous and afraid. 'Sombrero was besieged 3. Loss of by nearly four thousand regular troops; and during the absence of Mina, the garrison, attempting to cut their way through the enemy, were nearly all destroyed, not fifty of Mina's whole corps escaping. 'Los Remedios,§ another 4 fortress, occupied by a body of insurgent troops under the Padre Torres, was soon after besieged by the royalists under General Liñan, and Mina, checked by a superior force, was unable to relieve it. Sombrero. a. July 30. b. Aug. 19. Los Reme dios besieged. c. Aug. 31. 5. Mina's attempt upon Guanaxuato. success, and 42. 'Convinced that the garrison must yield unless the attention of the enemy could be diverted to another quar- the city of ter, Mina, at the head of a body of his new associates, his former soldiers having nearly all fallen, attempted to surprise the city of Guanaxuato. "With little opposition his 6. His partial troops had carried the gates, and penetrated into the in- final defeat. terior of the town, when their courage and subordination d. Oct 24. failed them at once, and they refused to advance. The garrison soon rallied, and attacking Mina's division, put it to rout, when a general dispersion ensued. Mina, with 7. Mina taken a small escort, took the road to Venadíto,|| where he was executed. San Felipe. (See Note, p. 577.) (Pronounced Fa-lee-pa.) prisoner, and ↑ San Juan, or San Juan de los Llanos, is about twelve miles from San Felipe. El Jurál is about twenty-five miles N.E from San Felipe, on the road to San Luis Potosi. Los Remedios. called by the royalists San Gregorio, was on one of the mountain heights a short distance S.S. W. from Guanaxuato. Venadito is a small rancho, or village, on the road from Guanaxuato to San Felipe. a. Oct. 27. Nov. 11. 1. Dissensions among the leaders ANALYSIS. surprised and captured by the Spanish general Orrantia. By an order from the Viceroy Apodaca he was ordered to be shot, and the sentence was executed on the eleventh of November, in sight of the garrison of Los Remedios. 43. 'After the death of Mina, dissensions broke out insurgent among the Insurgent leaders; and every town and forlosses-and tress of note fell into the hands of the Royalists. Torres Close of the was killed by one of his own captains; Guerrero, with a small force, was on the western coast, cut off from all communication with the interior; and Victoria, as has been related, had sought refuge in the mountains. In 1819 the revolutionary cause was at its lowest ebb; and the Viceroy declared, in a despatch transmitted to the government at Madrid, that he would answer for the safety of Mexico without an additional soldier. first revolu tion. 1819. 2. Remarks upon the 44. Thus ended the first Revolution in Mexico, with Revolution the total defeat and dispersion of the Independent party, after a struggle of nine years, from the time of the first outbreak at the little town of Dolóres. The Revolution was, from the first, opposed by the higher orders of the clergy, and but coldly regarded by the more opulent Creoles, who, conciliated to the government, gave to Spain her principal support during the early part of the 3. Cruelties perpetrated. 4. Hidalgo, and his Indian con federates. contest. 45. In the distractions of a civil war, which made enemies of former friends, neighbors, and kindred, the most wanton cruelties were often committed by the leaders on both sides. 'Hidalgo injured and disgraced the cause which he espoused, by appealing to the worst passions of his Indian confederates, whose ferocity appeared the more extraordinary, from having lain dormant so 5. Calleja. long. 'But the Spaniards were not backwards in retaliating upon their enemies; and Calleja, the Spanish commander, eclipsed Hidalgo as much in the details of cold blooded massacre, as in the practice of war. 6. Morelos. the Viceroy 46. Morelos was no less generous than brave; and with his fall the most brilliant period of the Revolution 7 Policy of terminated. 'Fresh troops arrived from Spain, and the Apodaca, and Viceroy Apodaca, who succeeded Calleja, by the adop its effect. tion of a conciliatory policy, and the judicious distribution of pardons from the king, reduced the armed Insurgents. 8. State of the to an insignificant number. But although the country spirit of the was exhausted by the ravages of war, and open hostilipeople at this ties quelled, subsequent events show that the spirit of independence was daily gaining ground, and that Spain had entirely lost all those moral influences by which she had so long governed her colonies in the New World. country, and CHAPTER IV. 1820. Chapter IV. MEXICO, FROM THE CLOSE OF THE FIRST REVO- Subject of LUTION IN 1819, TO THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION OF 1824. duced upon Mexico by the establishment the Spanish constitution. 1. 'The establishment of a constitutional government in 1. Effects proSpain, 1820, produced upon Mexico an effect very different from what was anticipated. As the constitu- of tion provided for a more liberal administration of government in Mexico than had prevailed since 1812, the increased freedom of the elections again threw the minds of the people into a ferment, and the spirit of independence, which had been only smothered, broke forth anew. Spaniards. of the clergy. 2. 'Moreover, divisions were created among the old 2 Divisions Spaniards themselves; some being in favor of the old among the old system, while others were sincerely attached to the constitution. Some formidable inroads on the property and 3. Alienation prerogatives of the church alienated the clergy from the new government, and induced them to desire a return to the old system. "The Viceroy, Apodaca, en- 4. Designs of couraged by the hopes held out by the Royalists in Spain, although he had at first taken the oath to support the constitution, secretly favored the party opposed to it, and arranged his plans for its overthrow. of the Viceroy. 5. Supposed co-operation Iturbide in this scheme. deceives the 3. 'Don Augustin Iturbide, the person selected by the Viceroy to make the first open demonstration against the existing government, was offered the command of a body of troops on the western coast, at the head of which he was to proclaim the re-establishment of the absolute authority of the king. Iturbide, accepting the commis- 6. Iturbide sion, departed from the capital to take command of the Viceroy, and troops, but with intentions very different from those which plans the inthe Viceroy supposed him to entertain. Reflecting upon Mexico. the state of the country, and convinced of the facility with which the authority of Spain might be shaken off,-by bringing the Creole troops to act in concert with the old insurgents, Iturbide resolved to proclaim Mexico wholly independent of the Spanish nation. 4. Having his head quarters at the little town of Iguala, on the road to Acapulco, Iturbide, on the 24th of February, 1821, there proclaimed his project, known as the "Plan of Iguala," and induced his soldiers to take an oath to support it. This "Plan" declared that Mexico should be an independent nation, its religion Catholic, and its government a constitutional monarchy. The crown was dependence of 1821. Feb. 24. 7. Open revolt of Iturbide. 8 General features of the plan of Iguala. ANALYSIS. offered to Ferdinand VII. of Spain, provided he would consent to occupy the throne in person; and, in case of his refusal, to his infant brothers, Don Carlos and Don Francisco. A constitution was to be formed by a Mexican Congress, which the empire should be bound by oath to observe; all distinctions of caste were to be abolished; all inhabitants, whether Spaniards, Creoles, Africans, or Indians, who should adhere to the cause of independence, were to be citizens; and the door of preferment was declared to be opened to virtue and merit alone. 1. Irresolu on and inac existing rally for in 5. The Viceroy, astonished by this unexpected movetivity of the ment of Iturbide, and remaining irresolute and inactive government. at the capital, was deposed, and Don Francisco Novello, a military officer, was placed at the head of the government; but his authority was not generally recognized, and Iturbide was left to pursue his plans in the interior 2. The general without interruption. 'Being joined by Generals Guerdependence. rero and Victoria as soon as they knew that the independence of their country was the object of Iturbide, not only all the survivors of the first insurgents, but whole detachments of Creole troops flocked to his standard, and his success was soon rendered certain. The clergy and the people were equally decided in favor of independence; the most distant districts sent in their adhesion to the cause, and, before the month of July, the whole country recognized the authority of Iturbide, with the exception of the capital, in which Novello had shut himself up with the European troops. 1821. 3. Advance of Iturbide to capital, and new Viceroy. 4. The Treaty of Cordova" 6. Iturbide had already reached Querétaro* with his toards the troops, on his road to Mexico, when he was informed of arrival of a the arrival, at Vera Cruz, of a new Viceroy, who, in such a crisis, was unable to advance beyond the walls of the fortress. "At Cordova,† whither the Viceroy had been allowed to proceed, for the purpose of an interview with Iturbide, the latter induced him to accept by treaty the Plan of Iguala, as the only means of securing the lives and property of the Spaniards then in Mexico, and of establishing the right to the throne in the house of Boura. Aug 24. bon. By this agreement, called the “ Treaty of Cordova," the Viceroy, in the name of the king, his master, recognized the independence of Mexico, and gave up the Querétaro, the capital of the state of that name, is situated in a rich and fertile valley, about 110 miles N.W. from the city of Mexico. It contains a population of about 40,000 inhabitants, one-third of whom are Indians. It is supplied with water by an aqueduct ten miles in length, carried across the valley on sixty arches. The inhabitants of the state are employed mostly in agriculture: those of the city, either in small trades, or in woollen manufactories The city contains many fine churches and convents. + Cordora is a town about fifty miles S.W. from Vera Cruz, on the east side of the foot of the volcano of Orizaba. capital to the army of the insurgents, which took posses- 1821. sion of it, without effusion of blood, on the 27th of September, 1821. Sept. 27. 1. A provi sional Junia 7. 'All opposition being ended, and the capital occupied, in accordance with a provision of the Plan of Iguala a provisional junta was established, the principal business of which was to call a congress for the formation of a constitution suitable to the country. At the same time a 2. A Regency. regency, consisting of five individuals, was elected, at the head of which was placed Iturbide as president, who was also created generalissimo and lord high admiral, and assigned a yearly salary of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. 3. of Iturbide's The success plans, and his popularity revolution universal while the lasted. 8. Thus far the plans of Iturbide had been completely successful: few have enjoyed a more intoxicating triumph; and none have been called, with greater sincerity, the saviour of their country. While the second revolution lasted, the will of their favorite was the law of the nation; and in every thing that could tend to promote a separation from Spain, not a single dissenting voice had been heard. 'But the revolution had settled no principle, and estab- The change lished no system; and when the old order of things had disappeared, and the future organization of the government came under discussion, the unanimity which had before prevailed was at an end. 9. When the provisional junta was about to prepare a plan for assembling a national congress, Iturbide desired that the deputies should be bound by oath to support the Plan of Iguala in all its parts, before they could take their seats in the congress. To this, Generals Bravo, Guerrero, and Victoria, and numerous others of the old insurgents, were opposed; as they wished that the people should be left unrestrained to adopt, by their deputies, such plan of government as they should prefer. Although Iturbide succeeded in carrying his point, yet the seeds of discontent were sown before the sessions of the congress commenced. that soon folloved. 5. Disagree Iturbide and "ent chefs. ment between 1822. a. Feb 24. 6 Parties in the nero Congress. Bourbons; and Iturbidists. 10. When the congress assembled, three distinct parties were found amongst the members. The Bourbonists, adhering to the plan of Iguala altogether, wished a constitutional monarchy, with a prince of the house of Bourbon at its head: the Republican, setting aside the Plan of Republicans Iguala, desired a federal republic; while a third party, the Iturbidists, adopting the Plan of Iguala, with the exception of the article in favor of the Bourbons, wished to place Iturbide himself upon the throne. As it was soon learned 7. Dissolution that the Spanish government had declared the treaty of bonist party. Cordova null and void, the Bourbonists ceased to exist as of the Bour b. (Feb. 13.) |