Page:Young Folks History Of Mexico.pdf/424

 418 against the cause of his native land. He was celebrated for his bravery, his activity, and skill in strategy. On the 16th of November, 1820, he marched forth from Mexico with 5000 men in pursuit of Guerrero, hidden in the sierras of the south. His acute intelligence informed him how events were tending, and he saw that eventually Mexico must gain her freedom. He resolved to cast his fortunes with the party of the future, rather than with that of the past.

In January, 1821, instead of engaging with the patriot chief, Guerrero, in deadly conflict, he invited him to an amicable meeting.

[A. D. 1821.] On the 24th of February of the same year he proclaimed the celebrated "Plan of Iguala"—so named from the town in which it was first conceived—the principles of which were. Union, civil and religious liberty. He joined forces with Guerrero, that great chief granting him the supreme command, and their combined armies marched upon the capital. The skilfully-constructed proclamation, which, while it assured every man his liberty, and declared independence of Spain and all other nations, still professed a conditional loyalty to the mother country, was calculated to stir every heart. The whole country responded, and men rose everywhere to swell the ranks of the "Army of the Three Guarantees "—

They entered the capital in triumph and without bloodshed, on the 27th of September, 1821, sixteen thousand strong, amidst universal rejoicing, and beneath the tricolored banner, symbolizing the three important principles of the proclamation—