Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/782

766 letter on the 2d of April, and on the same day Colonel Buceli, who was temporarily in command of the regiment of Órdenes, placed it under arms and marched from Tezcuco to Xuchi, expecting to unite there with the battalion of Castile stationed at Cuernavaca, thence proceed to Vera Cruz, according to instructions received from Dávila, and there initiate an uprising. The troops of Castile, however, failed to unite with him, and their commander, moreover, apprised Iturbide of the movement, who immediately gave orders to Anastasio Bustamante to march in pursuit. On the following morning Bustamante attacked Buceli's force, which, disheartened at the failure of the combination, after a slight show of resistance, surrendered at discretion; the troops were conducted as prisoners to the capital. A similar attempt was made by four companies of the Zaragoza regiment stationed at Nopalucan, under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Galindo; but after some trifling skirmishes they were opposed by overwhelming numbers and disarmed. Thus terminated this feeble effort; and the most brilliant troops ever sent by Spain to the colony suffered the humiliation of defeat in an enterprise the most insignificant.

Meantime Iturbide brought matters to a climax between himself and the congress, by a course of action as offensive as it was weak. The assembly had closed its sessions during the holy week; but on April 3d the deputies were hastily summoned by the president, who informed them that Iturbide wished to communicate to them matters of vital importance to the nation. This announcement was no sooner heard than it was objected