Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/229

Rh selected by them as representatives for the Provinces in the possession of the Royal troops. Such was the Assembly, which opened its sessions on the 13th of September, 1813, in the town of Chilpănzīngŏ. Its most remarkable act was the declaration of the absolute Independence of Mexico, which it published upon the 13th of November, 1813. It is difficult to say what impression this declaration might have produced upon the country, had Morelos continued his career of success; but his fortune was upon the wane, before it became at all generally known, and the influence of the Congress diminished, of course, in proportion to the decline in the reputation of its protector. The period of its installation was, undoubtedly, the most brilliant moment of Morelos's political existence. Up to that time, he had not only been successful wherever he commanded in person, but seemed to communicate a portion of his good fortune to all who served under his orders. The years 1812, and 1813, were distinguished by the victories gained by Don Nicolas Bravo, and Matamoros, at the Pălmār, and by the defence of the mountain of Cŏscŏmātĕpĕc. In the first of these actions. Bravo defeated Don Juan Lăbăquī, the Commandant of the regiment of the Patriots of Veracruz, at the head of a strong detachment. The engagement lasted three days, when the village, in which the Spaniards had taken refuge, was carried by storm, (20th August, 1812.) Three hundred prisoners, taken, upon this