Page:The Story of Mexico.djvu/289

Rh Mexicans adore Morelos. His native town is baptized anew with his name, and the state bears the name of Morelos, which contains Cuautla, the town he defended for sixty-two days with the patience of the muleteer and the obstinacy of his animals.

If the subsequent leaders of Mexican independence have not been always true to the example he gave them, of unselfish devotion to his cause, the great population has never wavered in its devotion to his memory.

In the public square of Morelos, capital of the state which also bears his name, is a marble statue of the hero, set up during the French occupation, on September 30, 1865, the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Morelos. The Emperor Maximilian presided on the occasion.