Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/189

Rh but confusion soon ensued amongst the besieged, and resistance was given up as hopeless, the great gate having been forced, and the Intendant himself killed by a ball, which struck him on the temple.

The number of Whites who perished in, and after, the action, is not exactly known. I use the term 'Whites', because several of the principal Creoles of Guánăjūātŏ, connected by marriage with the Spanish residents, and apprehensive, no doubt, that their property would not be respected in the general pillage, which was to be expected on Hidalgo's entry, determined to share the fate of the Europeans, and shut themselves up with them in the Ălhōndĭgă.

The slaughter is allowed to have been very considerable: indeed, I am acquainted with one family which lost seventeen of its members on that fatal day. Nothing could exceed the acharnement of the Indians, after the action was over; they put to death all the Europeans who fell into their hands, and seemed to seize with delight the opportunity, which was at length afforded them, of avenging the evils, which Spanish ambition had brought upon their ancestors and themselves. This ferocity was the more extraordinary, from having lain dormant so long. During three centuries, the Indian race had appeared to be in a state of the most abject submission to their conquerors; nor was it suspected, until the Revolution broke out, that they entertained so deeply rooted a feeling of former wrongs.

As all the Europeans had transported to the