Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/290

282 bridge on the Mexican Railway between Vera Cruz and Mexico city. When he came back to the haunts of civilized men, he was worn to a skeleton and so covered with hair that his nearest friends at first did not recognize him except by the old fire which gleamed in his eye and the dauntless courage with which he sprang at once to the welcome task of redeeming Mexico from her old fetters.

Iturbide's arrival in the capital had so roused the populace there that the viceroy was obliged to acknowledge the independence of Mexico to save the gachupines from violence. When this was reported in Spain, the timid official was promptly recalled; but the man sent to fill his place fared no better in the hands of his new subjects. Mexico had for ever shaken off the yoke of Spain, and was now launched on the stormy sea of revolution as an independent nation. To conciliate their old rulers, and at the same time to carry out their plan, the Mexicans despatched an invitation to the Bourbons to send one of their spare princes over to fill the new throne. But not one of them would accept the offer. In the general confusion which ensued, a grateful people, dazzled by the splendid qualities of their liberator, Iturbide, on May 1, 1822, pushed him into the seat just vacated by the viceroy, giving him the title of "emperor." The Mexican Congress, glad to see any way open toward a settlement, legalized this disorderly movement of the people, gave Iturbide the title "Agustin I.," declared his crown hereditary and conferred royal honors on the whole Iturbide family. An order of nobility was created, so that the regalia of a Creole nobleman could equal—in glitter, at least—the regalia worn by the long-envied gachupines.

Agustin I. might have gained a firm footing for