Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/249

Rh of public affairs, José María Chico, with the title of minister of grace and justice, and Ignacio Lopez Rayon, with that of secretary general.

Ignacio Lopez Rayon, who became a prominent revolutionary general at a later date, was born at the mining town of Tlalpujahua, Michoacan, in the year 1773. At an early age he displayed a studious turn of mind, and his parents, who were in moderate circumstances, were enabled to cultivate his taste for learning. His early education he received at the college of Valladolid, where he concluded a course of philosophy. He thence removed to the college of San Ildefonso in Mexico city, where he studied jurisprudence and took his lawyer's degree. Having successfully practised his profession for some time in the capital, the death of his father recalled him home; he then devoted himself to mining operations. In August 1810 he betrothed María Ana Martinez de Rulfo, a member of one of the principal families in that district. When Hidalgo entered the province in October 1810, Rayon espoused the revolutionary cause, and on the 24th issued a proclamation in Tlalpujahua, inviting Americans to join the just and holy enterprise. After the first events at Guanajuato and Valladolid, he proposed to Hidalgo a plan for the avoidance of similar excesses. His purpose had before this been reported to Venegas, and a detachment of soldiers was sent to arrest him, but he escaped as they came in sight. Hidalgo was at this time at Maravatio, at no considerable distance from Tlalpujahua, and Rayon immediately repaired thither, openly joined his standard, and was appointed his secretary-in-chief. He accompanied Hidalgo to the monte de