Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/310

292 character and resources rising with every new danger, difficulty or loss. But the die was cast. Oaxaca was recaptured by the royalists on the 28th of March, 1814. Miguel Bravo died at Puebla on the scaffold; Galeana fell in battle; and the Congress was driven from Chilpanzingo to the forest of Apatzingo, where, on the 22d of October, 1814, it enacted the constitution which bears the name of its wild birth-place.

From this temporary refuge the insurgents resolved to cross the country by rapid marches to Tehuacan in the province of Puebla, where Mier y Teran had gathered a considerable force, which Morelos imagined would become the nucleus of an overwhelming army, as soon as he joined them. But his hopes were not destined to be realized. He had advanced as far as Tesmaluca, when the Indians of the village betrayed his slender forces to General Concha, who fell upon them, on the 5th of November, 1815, in the narrow gorge of a mountain road. The assault was from the rear; so that Morelos, ordering Nocalas Bravo to hasten his march with the main body of the army as an escort for the illstared congress, resolved to fight the royalists until he placed the national legislature out of danger. "My life"—said he—"is of little consequence, provided congress be saved:—my race was run when I saw an independent government established!"

The brave soldier-priest, with fifty men, maintained the pass against Concha, until only one trooper was left beside him. So furious was his personal bearing, during this mortal conflict, that the royalists feared to advance until he was bereft of all support. When finally captured, he was stripped, chained, treated with the most shameless cruelty, and carried back to Tesmaluca. Concha, however, was less cruel than his men. He received the rebel chief politely, and despatched him to the capital for trial. Crowds of eager citizens flocked to see the celebrated partizan warrior who had so long held the Spanish forces at bay. But his doom was sealed; and, on the 22d of December, 1815, Concha removed him to the hospital of San Cristoval. After dining with the general, and thanking him for his kindness, he walked to the rear of the building, where, kneeling down, he bound a handkerchief over his eyes and uttering the simple ejaculation, "Lord, if I have done well, thou knowest it;—if ill, to thy infinite mercy I commend my soul,"—he gave the fatal signal to the soldiers who were drawn up to shoot him.