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264 himself asserts that he was disgusted with their projects, and refused to take any share in their execution, although they offered him the rank of Lieutenant-general as the price of his co-operation; while the Insurgents affirm that these were the conditions proposed by Iturbide, and rejected by them, because they conceived that it was setting too high a price upon the services of a man, so young, and so little distinguished, as he then was. However this may be, it is certain that all communication between them was broken off in disgust, and that Iturbide joined the troops, which were assembled by the Viceroy Venegas for the defence of Mexico, in 1810, and distinguished himself in the action of Lăs Crūcĕs, under the orders of Trŭxīllŏ. From that moment his rise was rapid: his activity and knowledge of the country recommended him for every dangerous expedition; and in these he was almost uniformly successful. As a Guerrilla chief he displayed great military talent; and, when entrusted with more important commands, he inflicted two of the most severe blows that the Insurgent cause sustained, in the battles of Văllădŏlīd, and Pŭrŭărān, (where Morelos's great army was destroyed, and Mătămōrŏs taken,) and mainly contributed to the triumph of the Spanish arms. As he himself states, he never failed but in the attack upon the fort of Cōpŏrŏ, in 1815, upon which occasion he volunteered his services, and led the party that was destined for the