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254 he was presented to Orrantia, who had the meanness not only to revile his fallen enemy in the most opprobrious terms, but actually to strike him repeatedly with the flat of his sword. Mina's rebuke was dignified and striking: "I regret to have become a prisoner, but to have fallen into the hands of a man, regardless alike of the character of a Spaniard and a soldier, renders my misfortune doubly keen."

From the hands of this unworthy foe, he was removed to Liñan's head quarters, where he received the treatment due to a soldier, and a gentleman, though every precaution was taken to prevent the possibility of an escape.

On the 10th of November, the courier, whom Liñan had sent to the Capital, to take Apŏdācă's commands with regard to his prisoner's fate, returned with orders for his immediate execution; and, on the 11th, this sentence was carried into effect, in the presence of all the surgeons of the army, and the captains of each company, who were directed to certify the fact of his death.

Mina is said to have met his fate with great firmness. He appears, however, to have entertained, latterly, some doubts with regard to the cause which he had espoused, and an anxious wish to clear his memory, with his own countrymen, from the imputation of having wished to separate Mexico from Spain. With this view, I presume, he wrote a