Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/317

Rh criminal project against the constitution, and to throw himself with his forces upon the popular cause of the country. It was a bold but successful move.

On the 24th of February, 1821, he was at the small town of Iguala, on the road to Acapulco; and on that day, at his headquarters, he proclaimed the celebrated, the several principles of which are:—"Independence, the maintenance of Roman Catholicity, and Union;"—whence his forces obtained the name of the "Army of the three Guaranties."

As this is probably one of the most important state papers in the history of Mexico, and is often referred to without being fully understood, we shall present it to the reader entire:

1.—The Mexican nation is independent of the Spanish nation, and of every other, even on its own continent.

2.—Its religion shall be the Catholic, which all its inhabitants profess.

3.—They shall all be united, without any distinction between Americans and Europeans.

4.—The government shall be a constitutional monarchy.

5.—A Junta shall be named, consisting of individuals who enjoy the highest reputation in different parties which have shown themselves.

6.—This Junta shall be under the presidency of his excellency the Conde del Venadito, the present viceroy of Mexico.

7.—It shall govern in the name of the nation, according to the laws now in force, and its principal business will be to convoke, according to such rules as it shall deem expedient, a congress for the formation of a constitution more suitable to the country.

8.—His Majesty Ferdinand VII. shall be invited to the throne of the empire, and in case of his refusal, the Infantes Don Carlos and Don Francisco De Paula.

9.—Should his Majesty Ferdinand VII. and his august brothers, decline the invitation, the nation is at liberty to invite to the imperial throne any member of reigning families whom it may choose to select.

10.—The formation of the constitution by the congress, and the oath of the emperor to observe it, must precede his entry into the country.

11.—The distinction of castes is abolished, which was made by the Spanish law, excluding them from the rights of