Page:Notes of the Mexican war 1846-47-48.djvu/496

490 potent than all the others combined, and indicated not only the secret control which the church possessed in the revolutionary movement of the country, but its determination to carry its power into every department of state, and to virtually rule the country at all hazard.

The plan and constitution of Iguala was first the Mexican's notion, of its independence of the nation, and of every other, even on its own continent.

Second, its religion shall be the Catholic, which all its inhabitants profess; and nothing else will be tolerated.

Third, they shall all be united, without any distinction between Americans, Europeans, etc.

Twelfth, an army shall be formed for the support of the Catholic religion, independence and union, guaranteeing these three principles; and, therefore, it shall be called the Army of the Three Guarantees.

So soon the army, which bore these principles upon their banners, marched on, meeting with little opposition, and entered the capital of Mexico, September 27, 1821.

A Junta (a meeting) was called, in which Augustine Iturbide was proclaimed President of the Republic of Mexico.

The country now breathed a moment freely after its long struggle of eleven years of internecine strife, which had finally culminated in independence, and the establishing of a junta, free from foreign control.

Don Augustine Iturbide, whose name I have frequently alluded to, is a native Mexican, and of the pure Aztec blood, and was very popular among the native tribes.

During the revolution of Hidalgo he commanded a detachment of royal troops, and was one of the leading spirits that defeated the revolutionists. But the outrageous treatment, the murdering of thousands of innocent men, women and children in cold blood, caused Iturbide to vacilar (waver) from the royalist cause. He joined the Mestizos, a mixed race; and, as soon as he saw a chance, he espoused the insurgent cause.

So long as Ferdinando, King of Spain, had opposed the