established. The following are the principal clauses of the plan:

The Roman Catholic religion was to be the only one tolerated. New Spain was to have absolute independence. The form of government was to be a constitutional monarchy, of which the emperor would be Ferdinand VII who should present himself to occupy the throne. Pending the meeting of the Córtes a junta was to provide for the fulfillment of the plan and govern if the Emperor did not come. All inhabitants, whether white, African, or Indian were qualified to hold office. An army to be called "Army of the three Guaranties" was to be created. The three guaranties were symbolized in the flag adopted: green, independence; white, religion; and red, union. The troops at Iguala swore to support the plan, and Iturbide addressed a communication to Viceroy Apodaca informing him of what had happened, sending him a list of the proposed members of the junta, and offering him the presidency of that body. Apodaca refused to listen to those propositions and endeavored to oppose the plan. He was, however, deposed on July 5, by the army in Mexico, commanded by Francisco Buceli, and replaced temporarily by General Pedro Novella. He had governed five years with wisdom and courage and deserved a better fate. On July 30, a new viceroy arrived at Vera Cruz. It was General Juan O'Donojú, the sixty-fourth and last viceroy of New Spain.

Since the proclamation of the plan at Iguala the cause of independence had made great progress, and Iturbide had gained to it such men as Anastasio Bustamante, Santa Anna, and Negrete, and his forces had occupied Guanajuato, Guadalajara, Valladolid, Querétaro, and many other places of importance. From Puebla Iturbide entered into relations with O'Donojú, and had a conference with him at Córdoba, on August 24, 1821, where the viceroy agreed to accept with slight changes the plan of Iguala as being the only means of preserving New Spain for Ferdinand. O'Donojú acted wisely in accepting a condition of things which he could not

control, but the chance of a Bourbon prince reigning over Mexico was very slim, as it had been stipulated that the Córtes should designate a monarch, in default of a member of the royal family. The ejercito trigarante, or army of the three guaranties, marched on the capital, which was evacuated by the royal forces by the orders of O'Donojú, and on September 27, 1821, Iturbide entered Mexico city in triumph at the head of his troops. The independence of New Spain was thus accomplished, but not as Hidalgo and especially Morelos had planned it. They wanted a democratic form of government, and it was an empire which was established in 1821. It is true that this empire was short-lived, but it had diverted the original plan of the revolutionists, and when it was followed by a republic it left its unfortunate impress on the country in the form of anarchy and absolutism.

CHAPTER X

THE FIRST EMPIRE AND THE EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC

THE Regency or provisional government provided for by the plan of Iguala was composed of Iturbide as president, and of O'Donojú, Manuel de la Barcena, José Isidro Yañez, and Manuel Velazquez de León. The ministers were chosen from the new party of Independents, and the old revolutionary chiefs were ignored. On October 8, 1821, the former viceroy O'Donojú died, and Iturbide appointed in his place the Bishop of Puebla, Joaquín Otón Pérez. The "Liberator" was preparing his own accession to the throne of Mexico, since the Spanish Córtes had not approved the treaty of Córdoba made between O'Donojú and Iturbide. On the assembling of a constituent Congress, on February 24, 1822, the "Borbonistas" and the "Republicans" seemed to be in a majority, and they deposed as members of the Regency, Pérez, Bárcena, and Velázquez de León, and put in their places Nicolás Bravo, the Count de Heras Soto, and Miguel Valentín. On May 18, however, Pío Marcha, a sergeant in the First Regiment of Infantry, led a movement in favor of Iturbide as emperor. He was seconded by Colonel Epitacío Sánchez, of the Horse Guards, and the movement soon spread over the whole city, where there were illuminations, salvos of artillery, and ringing of bells. Early the next morning the Congress met in the midst of a turbulent crowd favorable to Iturbide, and the latter was elected emperor by a vote of seventy-seven to fifteen. On July 21,

1822, he was crowned in the cathedral and assumed the title of "Agustín I."

The new emperor was not an ordinary man, but he was neither a great captain nor a great statesman, and he was unable to give to Mexico the institutions which Bonaparte, the First Consul, had given France and which had made it prosperous. Iturbide displayed a regal pomp which appeared somewhat ridiculous in a parvenu devoid of genius, and wished to govern almost as an autocrat. He soon disagreed with the Constituent Congress and dissolved that body on October 31. A formidable opposition then arose against him: Epitacio Sánchez was defeated by Guerrero and killed, and Nicolás Bravo and Guadalupe Victoria led revolts against the emperor. The old revolutionists joined Antonio López de Santa Anna and the "Plan de Casa Mata" was promulgated, February 1, 1823, by which a new Congress was to be called and a republican form of government guaranteed. Iturbide tried to placate the feeling against him by recalling the Congress which he had dissolved, but the members of that body, of whom many had been imprisoned by him, continued their opposition to him, and although he could have resisted his enemies by force of arms he preferred to retire from his office rather than shed the blood of his countrymen in a civil war. He abdicated on March 19, 1823, but the Congress refused to accept the abdication as it declared that the coronation of Iturbide had been accomplished by force and violence and was null. Finally, however, the ex-emperor was allowed to leave the country, and on April 11, 1823, he set sail at La Antigua for Leghorn. The Congress which had not accepted his resignation awarded him a pension of 25,000 pesos, "as a reward for his great services to the country."

The government which succeeded Iturbide's empire was supposed to be a republic, and a Poder Ejecutivo was created. It was composed of three generals, Pedro Celestino Negrete, Nicolás Bravo, and Guadalupe Victoria, who were all absent at that time from the capital. The most important