Considering the spirit and tendency of the revolutionary government, I feel unable to prolong my stay in the refuge for which I am indebted to you, the which debt I can never repay. God grant that my sacrifice may relieve my friends from the persecutions which have caused me such deep pain and sorrow.

The mantle of pity has been thrown over the man whose fate it has been to fall into misfortunes. May blessings attend you and your saintly wife, and I hope that my children will ever add their blessings to mine.

Entreat Arrieta and those of my family circle to see the works of mercy are carried out without ceremony or useless display.

I pray that you, your wife, and my sons may ever enjoy every happiness.

P. S. I count in any case on your discharging the trust committed to your care last night, which concerns the persons of whom you are aware. Farewell.

MEXICO

84. PLAN OF GOVERNMENT FOR MEXICO, PROPOSED BY DON AUGUSTÍN DE ITÚRBIDE TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE COUNT DE VENADITO, VICEROY OF NEW SPAIN

[Town of Iguala, February 24, 1821. American State Papers, IV, 829–830. Published by the United States Government.]

Augustín de Itúrbide was appointed by Viceroy Apodaca of New Spain to command some troops in the defense of Mexico City. Attacks were feared from the insurgent army under General Vicente Guerrero. The newly appointed commander left the capital on November 20, 1820, at the head of twenty-five hundred men. What his immediate plans or schemes were is not known. That he did not intend to engage in any serious fighting with General Guerrero is practically certain. Iturbide was anxious to have Guerrero agree to a plan for the emancipation of the viceroyalty from Spain. After some little time spent in preliminary negotiations a series of conferences were held between the two leaders. The net result of these pour parlers was the following Plan of Iguala.

Article 1. The religion of New Spain is, and shall be, the Roman Catholic Apostolical, without tolerating any other.

2. New Spain is independent of Old Spain, and of every other power, even on our own continent.

3. Its Government shall be a moderate monarchy, according to a constitution to be peculiarly adapted for the empire.

4. Ferdinand the VII. shall be Emperor; but if he do not come in person to Mexico, to make oath before the Cortes, within the time prescribed by them, the most serene infants, Don Carlos, Don Francisco de Paula, the Arch-duke Charles, or some other branch of the reigning family, shall be appointed in his place by the Congress.

5. Until the meeting of the Cortes, there shall be a Junta which shall have their union for its object, and the compliance with this plan in its whole extent.

6. The said Junta, which shall be styled Governmental, must be composed of the deputies mentioned in the official letter of his excellency the viceroy.

7. Until Ferdinand the VII's arrival in Mexico, and his taking the oath, the Junta will govern in the name of His Majesty, in virtue of the oath of fidelity taken by the nation; but until His Majesty hath sworn, any orders he may give shall be suspended.

8. If Ferdinand the VII. should not deign to come to Mexico, the Junta or Regency shall govern in the name of the nation, until it be resolved who shall be crowned Emperor.

9. This Government shall be sustained by the army of the three guarantees, of which mention shall be made hereafter.

10. The Cortes shall resolve whether the Junta shall continue, or a Regency be substituted in its place, until the arrival of the person who is to be crowned.

11. The Cortes shall immediately afterwards establish the constitution of the Mexican empire.

12. All the inhabitants of New Spain, without distinction of Africans, Europeans, or Indians, are citizens of this monarchy, with eligibility to all employments according to their virtues or merits.

13. The person of every citizen and his property shall be respected and protected by the Government.

14. The clergy, secular and regular, shall preserve all its privileges and pre-eminences.

15. The Junta shall take care that every branch of the State remain without any alteration, and all the officers, political and ecclesiastical, civil and military, on the same footing as at present. They alone shall be removed who decline entering into this plan, substituting in their place those persons who are most distinguished for their virtue and merit.

16. A protecting army shall be formed, under the title of the three guarantees, because it takes under its protection, 1st. The preservation of the Catholic Religion, co-operating, with all its efforts, that there may not be a mixture of any other sect; and attacking all the enemies who may injure it; 2d. The independence, under the system

already manifested; 3d. The intimate union of Americans and Europeans, guarantying such fundamental bases of the felicity of New Spain. Each individual, from first to last, will prefer sacrificing his life rather than permit the infraction of any of them.

17. The troops of the army shall observe the most strict discipline, according to their regulations, and the chiefs and officers shall remain on the same standing as at present, that is, in their respective classes, with eligibility to such public employments as are vacant, or may vacate in consequence of those who may not wish to follow their career, or any other cause, and those which may be considered as necessary or convenient.

18. The troops of the said army shall be considered as of the line. 19. In the same light shall be considered those who may afterwards adopt this plan. Those who do not defer it, those of the former system of independence who shall immediately join said army, and the countrymen who may desire to enlist, shall be considered as troops of the national militia; and the form of each for the interior and exterior security of the empire shall be dictated by the Cortes.

20. The employments shall be conceded to true merit, in virtue of references to the chiefs, and in the name of the nation.

21. While the Cortes are assembling, the proceedings against criminals shall be according to the Spanish constitution.

22. For conspiring against the independence, criminals shall be imprisoned until the Cortes decide the greatest punishment next to "lesa Majestad Divina."

23. A strict watch shall be kept over those who may attempt to create disunion, and they shall be reputed conspirators against the independence.

24. As the Cortes which are about to be installed are to be constituent, it is necessary that the deputies should receive sufficient powers to that effect, and, consequently, the electors ought to be informed that their representatives are to be for the Congress of Mexico, and not of Madrid. The Junta will prescribe just rules for the elections, and will fix the necessary time for them and the opening of the Congress. Since the elections cannot take place in March, the term shall be shortened as much as possible.

IGUALA, February 24.

ITURBIDE

85. DECREE OF CONGRESS ANNOUNCING THE ELECTION OF DON AUGUSTÍN DE ITÚRBIDE AS CONSTITUTIONAL EMPEROR OF MEXICO

[May 19, 1822. British and Foreign State Papers, IX, 799. Published by the British Foreign Office.]

Don Augustín de Itúrbide entered the City of Mexico with the Army of the Three Guaranties on September 27, 1821. He selected a governmental junta, which body declared the independence of Mexico on the twenty-eighth of that same month. This junta appointed a regency to act as an executive body until an emperor could be selected. Itúrbide was made president of this body. The news that the treaty of Córdoba, signed by Viceroy O'Donojú1 and Itúrbide on August 24, 1821, had been rejected by Spain caused the friends of Itúrbide to secure his election as emperor of Mexico on May 19, 1822. It was this action of the congress which the regency announced in the document given below.

In the Palace of Mexico, on the 19th of May, 1822, the 2d Year of Independence, the Sovereign Constituent Mexican Congress, assembled in Extraordinary Session in consequence of the events of last night, and the Official Report thereon of the Generalissimo Admiral, which transmitted the various Documents inserted in the Proceedings of this day; having heard the acclamations of the People, which are in conformity with the general wish of the Congress and of the Nation; taking into consideration that the Cortes of Spain, by a decree inserted in the Madrid Gazette of the 13th and 14th February last, have declared the Treaty of Cordova to be null and void, and that, therefore, the Mexican Nation is no longer bound to its fulfilment, but enjoys the liberty, which the IIId Article of said Treaty grants to the Sovereign Constituent Congress, to name an Emperor, in the event of the renunciation, or refusal, of the Persons therein

1 Juan O'Donojú, it was believed, had come to help toward bringing about the independence of New Spain. After the entry of Itúrbide into Mexico City a regency was formed with the Liberator as president and Viceroy O'Donojú as one of the members. On October 8, 1821, O'Donojú died. He was the last of the long line of viceroys of New Spain.