Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/294

278 the court was formed to take the depositions of Hidalgo, Allende, Juan Aldama, and Jimenez. On the 7th he commenced his duties. It would be out of place to enter into the details of the numerous depositions. Hidalgo and Allende, instead of favoring, rather opposed each other.

Allende had met with much to trouble him since his seizure of the general management and his failure. It had been a fearful responsibility, for he well knew that failure was almost certain death. Hidalgo was mild and moderate in all his actions and expressions. He could make allowances for the temper of the soldier, and for so good a soldier as Allende, and one engaged in so noble a cause; he could even forgive the unjust reproaches of a friend, but he could not forget the sad failure, the lost cause—no! it was not lost. As sure as the sun continued to rise and set, the grito de Dolores would never cease ringing throughout the land till Mexico was free!

The deposition of Abasolo displayed the character of that leader as one of the most pusillanimous. He never had been greatly trusted by his associates. During the latter days of disaster his lukewarmness had been apparent, and now, in peril of his life, he left no means untried, however dastardly, to save it, accusing everybody while shielding himself. He had known nothing, he testified, about the revolution until the grito de Dolores had gone forth; he had attempted to give Colonel Canal at San Miguel information; he had wished at the commencement to separate himself from the rebellion—every one of which statements was a lie. Though he had been made colonel, and after that major-general, he was withal a coward. When Hidalgo attacked