Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/565

 APPENDIX. 535 Art. 13. It shall solemnly swear to defend the fundamental bases of this plan. Art. 14. It shall strictly observe the military ordinances now in force- Art. 15. There shall be no other promotions than those which are due to seniority, or which shall be necessary for the good of the service. Art. 16. This army shall be considered as of the line. Art. 17. The old partisans of Independence who shall immediately adhere to this plan, shall be considered as individuals of this army. Art. 18. The patriots and peasants who shall adhere to it hereafter, shall be considered as Provincial Militia-men. Art. 19. The Secular and Regular priests shall be continued in the state in which they now are. Art. 20. All the public functionaries, civil, ecclesiastical, political, and military, who adhere to the cause of Independence, shall be conti- nued in their offices, without any distinction between Americans and F-uropeans. Art. 21. Those functionaries, of whatever degree and condition, who dissent from the cause of Independence, shall be divested of their offices, and shall quit the territory of the empire, taking with them their families and their effects. Art. 22. The military commandants shall regulate themselves accord- ing to the general instructions in conformity with this plan, which shall be transmitted to them. Art. 23. No accused person shall be condemned capitally by the mili- tary commandants. Those accused of treason against the nation, which is the next greatest crime after that of treason to the Divine Ruler, shall be conveyed to the fortress of Barrabas, where they shall remain until the Congress shall resolve on the punishment which ought to be inflicted on them. Art. 24. It being indispensable to the country that this plan should be carried into effect, in as much as the welfare of that country is its object, every individual of the army shall maintain it, to the shedding (if it be necessary) of the last drop of his blood. Town of Iguala, 24>th February, 1821. END OF THJi FIRST VOLUME.