Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/162

146 fearful, but to see their comrades shot down by their side only the more enrages them. The defenders of the barrier at the street of los Pozitos are being hard pressed, and Riaño sallies with twenty men to their support. His courage outstrips his prudence; yet, stationing the men, he returns to the alhóndiga unscathed through a storm of missiles. He mounts the steps of the entrance and turns round to see how the battle goes—then he drops dead, struck through the brain by a bullet. A soldier of the Celaya regiment had marked him for his own. The body is dragged within, and the hearts of those present sink as they gaze on their commander's lifeless form.

Thus fell the first man of note in the revolutionary war, a man whose death was much lamented. Riaño was an incorruptible and just but merciful magistrate. He was headstrong and rash, yet he was honest and humane. The beneficent measures adopted while he was intendente of Guanajuato raised the province to its highest prosperity. It is claimed for him that liberal and enlightened views led him to recognize the blessings of independence; and to his friends, of whom Hidalgo was one, he did not hesitate to express liberal opinions. It is further urged that, had the declaration of independence come from a more legitimate source, had it been proclaimed by the constituted authorities, as might have been the case if Iturrigaray had not been deposed, Riaño would unhesitatingly