1816-1821.
APODACA VICEROY.--SPANISH CONSTITUTION OF 1812 PROCLAIMED IN
MEXICO.--CONDITION OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PARTY.--VICTORIA--MINA
LANDS AT SOTO LA MARINA--HIS EFFORTS--LOS REMEDIOS--GUERILLAS--HE
IS SHOT.--PADRE TORRES--ITURBIDE--APODOCA SELECTS HIM TO ESTABLISH
ABSOLUTISM.--ITURBIDE PROMULGATES THE PLAN OF IGUA LA--ARMY OF THE
THREE GUARANTIES.
DON JUAN RUIZ DE APODACA, CONDE DEL VENADITO, LXI. VICEROY OF NEW
SPAIN. 1816-1821.
With the death of Morelos the hopes of the insurgents were crushed and
their efforts paralyzed. This extraordinary man, so fertile in
resources, and blending in himself the mingled power of priest and
general, had secured the confidence of the masses, who found among his
officers, none upon whom they could rally with perfect reliance.
Besides this, the congress which had been conducted safely to Tehuacan
by Bravo, was summarily dissolved by General Teran, who considered it
an "inconvenient appendage of a camp." We cannot but regard this act
of the general as unwise at a moment, when the insurgents lost such a
commander as Morelos. By the dissolution of the congress the nation
abandoned another point of reunion; and from that moment, the cause
began to fail in all parts of the country.
The CONSTITUTION, sanctioned by the Cortes in 1812, had, meanwhile,
been proclaimed in Mexico, on the 29th of September of that year; and,
whilst the people felt somewhat freer under it, they were enabled, by
the liberty of the press, which lasted sixty-six days, to expend their
new-born patriotism on paper instead of in battles. These popular
excitements, served to sustain the spirits of the people,
notwithstanding the losses of the army; so that when Apodaca, assumed
the reins of the viceroyalty in 1816, the country was still republican
at heart, though all the insurgent generals were either captured or
hidden in the wilderness, whilst their disbanded forces, in most
instances, had accepted the _indulto_, or pardon, proffered for their
return to allegiance.
* * * * *
The remaining officers of Morelos spread themselves over the country,
as there was no longer any centre of action; and each of them,
occupying a different district, managed, for a while, to support
revolutionary fervor throughout the neighborhood. "Guerrero occupied
the west coast, where he maintained himself until the year 1821, when
he joined Iturbide. Rayon commanded in the vicinity of Tlalpujahua,
where he successively maintained two fortified camps on the Cerro del
Gallo, and on Coporo. Teran held the district of Tehuacan, in Puebla.
Bravo was a wanderer throughout the country. The Bajio was tyrannized
over by the Padre Torres, while Guadalupe Victoria occupied the
important province of Vera Cruz."[61]
The chief spite of the royalists,--who hunted these republican heroes,
among the forests and mountain fastnesses of Mexico, as the
Covenanters had been hunted in Scotland,--seems to have fallen upon
the last named of these patriot generals. Victoria's haunt was chiefly
in the passes near the Puente del Rey, now the Puente Nacional, or
National bridge, on the road leading from the port of Vera Cruz to the
capital. He was prepared to act either with a large force of
_guerillas_, or, with a simple body guard; and, knowing the country
perfectly, he was enabled to descend from his fastnesses among the
rocks, and thus to cut off, almost entirely, all communication between
the coast and the metropolis. At length, superior forces were sent to
pursue him with relentless fury. His men gradually deserted when the
villages that formerly supplied them with food refused further
contributions. Efforts were made to seduce him from his principles and
to ensure his loyalty. But he refused the rank and rewards offered by
the viceroy as the price of his submission. At length he found himself
alone in his resistance, in the midst of countrymen, who, if they
would no longer fight under his banner, were too faithful to betray
him. Yet he would not abandon the cause, but, taking his sword and a
small stock of raiment, departed for the mountains, where he wandered
for thirty months, living on the fruits of the forest and gnawing the
bones of dead animals found in their recesses. Nor did he emerge from
this impenetrable concealment, until two faithful Indians, whom he had
known in prosperous days, sought him out with great difficulty, and,
communicating the joyous intelligence of the revolution of 1821,
brought him back once more to their villages where he was received
with enthusiastic reverence as a patriot raised from the dead. When
discovered by the Indians he was worn to a skeleton, covered with
hair, and clad in a tattered wrapper; but, amid all his distresses and
losses, he had preserved and treasured his loyalty to the cause of
liberty and his untarnished sword!
Meanwhile another actor in this revolutionary army had appeared upon
the stage. This was XAVIER MINA, a _guerilla_ chief of old Spain, who
fled from his country, in consequence of the unfortunate effort to
organize an outbreak in favor of the Cortes, at Pampeluna, after the
dissolution of that assembly by the king. He landed on the coast of
Mexico at Soto la Marina with a brave band of foreigners, chiefly
North Americans, on the 15th of April, 1817. His forces amounted to
only three hundred and fifty-nine men, including officers, of whom
fifty-one deserted before he marched into the interior. Leaving one
hundred of these soldiers at Soto la Marina under the command of Major
Sarda, he attempted with the remainder, to join the independents in
the heart of the country.
Mina pressed onwards successfully, defeating several royalist parties,
until he reached Sombrero, whence he sallied forth upon numerous
expeditions, one of which was against the fortified _hacienda_ or
plantation of the Marques of Jaral, a creole nobleman, from which the
inhabitants and the owner fled at his approach. His troops sacked this
wealthy establishment, and Mina transferred to the public chest one
hundred and forty thousand dollars, found concealed in the house. This
nobleman, it is true, had given in his adhesion to the royal cause and
fortified his dwelling against the insurgents who hitherto refrained
from attacking him. Nevertheless, the unprovoked blow of an
independent leader against a native of the country, and especially
against a man whose extensive farming operations concentrated the
interests of so large a laboring class, was not calculated to inspire
confidence in Mina among the masses of the people.
Whilst the guerilla chief was thus pursuing his way successfully in
the heart of the country, and receiving occasional reinforcements from
the natives, the garrison he left at Soto la Marina fell into the
hands of Spanish levies, two thousand of whom surrounded the slender
band. Notwithstanding the inequality of forces between the assailants
and the besieged, the royalists were unable to take the place by
storm; but, after repeated repulses, General Arredondo proposed terms
which were accepted by Major Sarda, the independent commander. It is
scarcely necessary to say that this condition was not fulfilled by the
Spaniards, who sent the capitulated garrison in irons, by a circuitous
journey, to the sickly Castle of San Juan de Ulua at Vera Cruz, whence
some of the unfortunate wretches were marched into the interior whilst
others were despatched across the sea to the dungeons of Cadiz,
Melilla and Ceuta. This was a severe blow to Mina, who nevertheless
was unparalyzed by it but continued active in the vicinity of Sombrero
to which he retreated after an illjudged attempt upon the town of
Leon, where the number of his troops was considerably diminished.
Sombrero was invested, soon after, by a force of three thousand five
hundred and forty soldiers, under Don Pascual Liñan, who had been
appointed Field Marshal, by Apodaca, and despatched to the Bajio. This
siege was ultimately successful on the part of the royalists. The
fresh supplies promised to Mina did not arrive. Colonel Young, his
second in command, died in repulsing an assault; and, upon the
garrison's attempting to evacuate the town, under Colonel Bradburn, on
the night of the 19th of August, the enemy fell upon the independents
with such vigor that but fifty of Mina's whole corps escaped. "No
quarter," says Ward, "was given in the field, and the unfortunate
wretches who had been left in the hospital wounded, were by Liñan's
orders, carried or dragged along the ground from their beds to the
square where they were stripped and shot!"
Mina, as a last resort, threw himself into the fort of Los Remedios, a
natural fortification on the lofty mountain chain rising out of the
plains of the Bajio between Silao and Penjamo, separated from the rest
by precipices, and deep ravines.
Liñan's army sat down before Remedios on the 27th of August. Mina left
the town so as to assail the army from without by his _guerillas_,
whilst the garrison kept the main body engaged with the fort. During
this period he formed the project of attacking the town of Guanajuato,
which, in fact, he accomplished; yet, after his troops had penetrated
the heart of the city, their courage failed and they retreated before
the loyalists who rallied after the panic created by the unexpected
assault at nightfall. On retreating from Guanajuato, our partizan
warrior took the road to the Rancho del Venadito where he designed
passing the night in order to consult upon his future plans with his
friend Mariano Herrera. Here he was detected by a friar, who apprised
Orrantia of the brave Mina's presence, and, on the morning of the 27th
of October, he was seized and conveyed to Irapuato. On the 11th of
November, 1817, in the 28th year of his age, he was shot by order of
Apodaca, on a rock, in sight of Los Remedios.
At the end of December the ammunition of the insurgents in this
stronghold was entirely exhausted, and its evacuation was resolved on.
This was attempted on the 1st of January, 1818, but, with the
exception of Padre Torres, the commander, and twelve of Mina's
division, few or none of the daring fugitives escaped. The wretched
inmates of the fort, the women, and garrison hospitals of wounded,
were cut down, bayoneted, and burned. On the 6th of March, the fort of
Jauxilla, the insurgents' last stronghold in the central parts of the
country, fell, while, towards the middle of the year, all the
revolutionary chiefs were dislodged and without commands, except
Guerrero, who still maintained himself on the right bank of the river
Zacatula, near Colima, on the Pacific. But even he was cut off from
communication with the interior, and was altogether without hope of
assistance from without. The heart of the nation, and the east
coast,--which was of most importance so far as the reception of
auxiliaries by the independents was concerned,--were, thus, in
complete possession of the royalists; so that a viceroy declared in
his despatches to Spain, "that he would be answerable for the safety
of Mexico without a single additional soldier being sent out to
reinforce the armies that were in the field."
But the viceroy Apodaca, confident as he was of the defeat of the
insurrection, did not know the people with whom he dealt as well as
his predecessor Calleja,[62] who, with all his cruelty, seems to have
enjoyed sagacious intervals in which he comprehended perfectly the
deep seated causes of revolutionary feeling in Mexico, even if he was
indisposed to sympathize with them or to permit their manifestation by
the people. In fact, the revolution was not quelled. It slept, for
want of a leader;--but, at last he appeared in the person of AGUSTIN
DE ITURBIDE, a native Mexican, whose military career, in the loyalist
cause had been not only brilliant but eminently useful, for it was in
consequence of the two severe blows inflicted by him upon the
insurgents in the actions of Valladolid and Puruaran that the great
army of Morelos was routed and destroyed.
In 1820, Apodaca, who was no friend of the constitution, and who
suffered a diminution of power by its operation, was well disposed to
put it down by force, and to proclaim once more the absolute authority
of the king. The elective privileges, which the constitution secured
to the people, together with the principles of freedom which those
elections were calculated to foster among the masses, were considered
by the viceroy as dangerous in a country so recently the theatre of
revolution. The insurrection was regarded by him as ended forever. He
despised, perhaps, the few distinguished persons who yet quietly
manifested their preference for liberalism; and, like all men of
despotic character and confident of power, he undervalued the popular
masses, among whom there is ever to be found common sense, true
appreciation of natural rights, and firmness to vindicate them
whenever they are confident of the leaders who are to control their
destiny when embarked upon the stormy sea of rebellion.
Apodaca, in pursuit of his project to restore absolutism on this
continent, fixed his eyes upon the gallant ITURBIDE, whose polished
manners, captivating address, elegant person, ambitious spirit, and
renowned military services, signalized him as a person likely to play
a distinguished part in the restoration of a supreme power whose first
favors would probably be showered upon the successful soldier of a
crusade against constitutional freedom.
Accordingly the viceroy offered Iturbide the command of a force upon
the west coast, at the head of which he was to proclaim the
re-establishment of the king's _absolute_ authority. The command was
accepted; but Iturbide, who had been for four years unemployed, had,
in this interval of repose, reflected well upon the condition of
Mexico, and was satisfied that if the creoles could be induced to
co-operate with the independents, the Spanish yoke might be cast off.
There were only eleven Spanish expeditionary regiments in the whole of
Mexico, and although there were upwards of seventy thousand old
Spaniards in the different provinces who supported these soldiers,
they could not oppose, effectually, the seven veteran and seventeen
provincial regiments of natives, aided by the masses of people who had
signified their attachment to liberalism.
Instead, therefore, of allying himself with the cause of a falling
monarchy, whose reliance must chiefly be confined to succors from
across the ocean, Iturbide resolved to abandon the viceroy and his
criminal project against the constitution, and to throw himself with
his forces upon the popular cause of the country. It was a bold but
successful move.
On the 24th of February, 1821, he was at the small town of Iguala, on
the road to Acapulco; and on that day, at his headquarters, he
proclaimed the celebrated PLAN OF IGUALA, the several principles of
which are:--"Independence, the maintenance of Roman Catholicity, and
Union;"--whence his forces obtained the name of the "Army of the three
Guaranties."
As this is probably one of the most important state papers in the
history of Mexico, and is often referred to without being fully
understood, we shall present it to the reader entire:
PLAN OF IGUALA.
ARTICLE 1.--The Mexican nation is independent of the Spanish nation,
and of every other, even on its own continent.
ART. 2.--Its religion shall be the Catholic, which all its inhabitants
profess.
ART. 3.--They shall all be united, without any distinction between
Americans and Europeans.
ART. 4.--The government shall be a constitutional monarchy.
ART. 5.--A Junta shall be named, consisting of individuals who enjoy
the highest reputation in different parties which have shown themselves.
ART. 6.--This Junta shall be under the presidency of his excellency
the Conde del Venadito, the present viceroy of Mexico.
ART. 7.--It shall govern in the name of the nation, according to the
laws now in force, and its principal business will be to convoke,
according to such rules as it shall deem expedient, a congress for the
formation of a constitution more suitable to the country.
ART. 8.--His Majesty Ferdinand VII. shall be invited to the throne of
the empire, and in case of his refusal, the Infantes Don Carlos and
Don Francisco De Paula.
ART. 9.--Should his Majesty Ferdinand VII. and his august brothers,
decline the invitation, the nation is at liberty to invite to the
imperial throne any member of reigning families whom it may choose to
select.
ART. 10.--The formation of the constitution by the congress, and the
oath of the emperor to observe it, must precede his entry into the
country.
ART. 11.--The distinction of castes is abolished, which was made by
the Spanish law, excluding them from the rights of citizenship. All
the inhabitants are citizens, and equal, and the door of advancement
is open to virtue and merit.
ART. 12.--An army shall be formed for the support of religion,
independence, and union, guaranteeing these three principles, and
therefore shall be called the army of the three guaranties.
ART. 13.--It shall solemnly swear to defend the fundamental basis of
this plan.
ART. 14.--It shall strictly observe the military ordinances now in
force.
ART. 15.--There shall be no other promotions than those which are due
to seniority, or which are necessary for the good of the service.
ART. 16.--The army shall be considered as of the line.
ART. 17.--The old partizans of independence who shall adhere to this
plan, shall be considered as individuals of this army.
ART. 18.--The patriots and peasants who shall adhere to it hereafter,
shall be considered as provincial militiamen.
ART. 19.--The secular and regular priests shall be continued in the
state which they now are.
ART. 20.--All the public functionaries, civil, ecclesiastical,
political and military, who adhere to the cause of independence, shall
be continued in their offices, without any distinction between
Americans and Europeans.
ART. 21.--Those functionaries, of whatever degree and condition who
dissent from the cause of independence, shall be divested of their
offices, and shall quit the territory without taking with them their
families and effects.
ART. 22.--The military commandants shall regulate themselves according
to the general instructions in conformity with this plan, which shall
be transmitted to them.
ART. 23.--No accused person shall be condemned capitally by the
military commandants. Those accused of treason against the nation,
which is the next greatest crime after that of treason to the Divine
Ruler, shall be conveyed to the fortress of Barbaras, where they shall
remain until congress shall resolve on the punishment that ought to be
inflicted on them.
ART. 24.--It being indispensable to the country, that this plan should
be carried into effect, inasmuch as the welfare of that country is its
object, every individual of the army shall maintain it, to the
shedding (if it be necessary) of the last drop of his blood.
Town of Iguala, 24th February, 1821.
[Footnote 61: Ward vol. i, 221.]
[Footnote 62: See Calleja's confidential letter to the Spanish
minister of war, with a private report on the Mexican Revolution.
Ward, vol. i, p. 509--Appendix.]