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 MEXICO 477 not a little enhanced by the imprisonment of the viceroy, Don Jose de Iturrigaray, suspect- ed of a design to seize the crown of Mexico (Sept. 16, 1808). After his arrest the prestige of Spanish authority sensibly declined among the Mexicans, who began to long for indepen- dence. A conspiracy was formed, and on Sept. 15, 1810, a revolt broke out in the prov- ince of Guanajuato, headed by a priest, Don Miguel Hidalgo, a man of much talent and con- siderable influence among the Indians. The insurrection soon assumed formidable propor- tions, Hidalgo having at one time 100,000 men under arms. He finally suffered several de- feats, was betrayed to his enemies (March 21, 1811), and four months later shot in company with his companions in arms Allende, Aldama, and Jimenez. The contest was continued by Morelos, also a priest, who called a national congress, which met at Chilpanzingo in Septem- ber, 1813, and in November declared Mexico in- dependent. On Oct. 22, 1814, it promulgated at Apatzingan the first Mexican constitution, which is known by the name of that place. After several defeats Morelos was captured, carried to the city of Mexico, and executed as a rebel, Dec. 22, 1815. For several years the contest was a mere partisan warfare on the part of the patriots, of whom the principal chiefs were Victoria, Guerrero, Bravo, Rayon, and Teran. These were gradually driven from the field, and were killed, imprisoned, or ob- liged to hide in the mountains, so that long be- fore 1820 the authority of Spain appeared to be fully reestablished in Mexico. But in the course of that year the news of the revolution in Spain, and of the proclamation of the con- stitution which Ferdinand VII. had been com- pelled to adopt, renewed the agitation among the Mexicans in favor of a liberal government. Don Agustin Iturbide, a native Mexican and a colonel in the Mexican army, who during the recent civil war had distinguished himself on the royalist side, now threw off his allegiance and began the second revolution by proclaim- ing Mexico independent, Feb. 24, 1821. The revolt of Iturbide was eminently successful. In the course of a few months the whole country recognized his authority, except the capital, and by a treaty signed at Cordova, Aug. 24, 1821, with the viceroy, Don Juan O'Donoju, he obtained possession of Mexico on Sept. 27, and instituted a regency, of which he was the head and O'Donoju one of the members. Eight months later, with the support of the army and the mob of the city of Mexico, Itur- bide was proclaimed emperor on the night of May 19, 1822, under the title of Agustin I. His reign was short. On Dec. 2 Santa Anna, seconded by Bravo, Guerrero, and other chiefs, proclaimed the republic at Vera. Cruz ; and Iturbide abdicated on March 19, 1823, rather than see the country again plunged into civil war. The congress, which had been dissolved by Iturbide, but reconvoked by him shortly before his abdication, appointed a new gov- ernment, called poder ejecutivo (executive power), composed of Gens. Bravo, Victoria, Negrete, and Guerrero. Iturbide was con- demned to exile, and embarked at Vera Cruz for London in May of the same year, just twelve months after his exaltation to the throne. On Oct. 4, 1824, the congress promulgated a constitution closely resembling that of the Uni- ted States, and by virtue of which Mexico was formed into a republic with 19 states and 5 territories. Gen. Don Felix Fernando Vic- toria, better known as Guadalupe Victoria, one of the most intrepid heroes of the war of independence, was the first president, and Gen. Bravo the first vice president. Iturbide, who had the temerity to venture back to Mex- ico in this year, was arrested and shot at Pa- dilla on July 19. In 1828 the candidates for the presidency were Gens. Gomez Pedraza and Guerrero; on the election of the former the opposite party took up arms, and a bloody contest ensued, which terminated in the down- fall of Pedraza's government, and his flight from the country, Jan. 4, 1829. Guerrero as- sumed the executive functions on April 1. The year 1829 was marked by the recognition of the Mexican republic by the United States, and by an attempt made by Spain to regain possession of her lost colony. In July Brig. Gen. Barradas with 4,000 Spanish troops dis- embarked at Cabo Rojo near Tampico, but he was compelled to capitulate on Sept. 11, his troops being disarmed and sent to Havana, The vice president, Gen. Anastasio Busta- mante, who was commanding a reserve corps at Jalapa for the purpose of repelling the in- vaders, pronounced against Guerrero, and, hav- ing succeeded in deposing him, was himself elected president in his stead, Jan. 11, 1830. Revolutionary disturbances continued till Feb. 14, 1831, when Guerrero, one of the principal leaders, was treacherously delivered up to his enemies and executed. His name is perpetu- ated in that of one of the present states of the republic. Bustamante was succeeded by Pedraza, who in turn was deposed by Santa Anna, the latter entering upon office on April 1, 1833, little more than three months after the inauguration of Pedraza. Bustamante was compelled to go into exile, and with him several other personages of political notoriety. Congress now passed laws suppressing the convents, and abolishing the compulsory pay- ment of tithes. It also proposed to appropri- ate the property of the church to the payment of the national debt, but this measure led to insurrections and to further complications, which ended in 1835 in the abrogation of the constitution of 1824 and the conversion of the confederation of states into a consolidated re- public, of which Santa Anna was nominally constitutional president, and practically dicta- tor. This revolution was acquiesced in by all parts of the country except Texas, where sev- eral thousand American colonists had settled. The refusal of the Texans to submit to the cen-