Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/284

276 avenge my father's death lest in the first moments of my grief the temptation to do so would prove irresistible."

A national Congress which had been summoned to organize an independent government had not yet finished its work when the members were driven out of Chilpanzinco, where they were in session. Morelos led them to a dense forest, and there, hidden in the shadow of its great trees, the declaration of Mexican independence and its first constitution were drawn up. Before the work was completed an alarm was given, "The royalists are upon us!" Hastily gathering up their precious documents, the men fled, and Morelos and his handful of patriots, closing in behind them, held until they were beyond pursuit the pass through which they were flying. Morelos heroically stood his ground until but one man remained at his side. Then, when forced to surrender, he said calmly, "My race is run when an independent government is established in Mexico." He was condemned to be shot for high treason. As he knelt beside the grave already yawning to receive his body, his faith turned from the saints and the Virgin, who were the objects of prayer and adoration for generations, and he cried out to Jesus Christ, the one Mediator between God and man, exclaiming with his last breath,

"Lord, if I have done well, thou knowest it; if ill, to thine infinite mercy I commend my soul!"