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TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
Church property. The prospects of absolute despotism was, there- fore, under the circumstances not very encouraging. 'fhe Royalists being divided among themselves and the Creoles greatly invigorated and united, having also the Church on their side, left the dispirit~d Vice-Roy but very limited chances of success. Still it was important that he should not be idle. He felt the necessity of adopting the most energetic measures possible for the vindication of the royal cause; and as a most suitable instrument for the execution of his purposes, · he fixed upon the celebrated Iturbede, who was then in a condition to engage in almost any kind of servise.- . Iturbede was a Creole of the country, and at the beginning of the Revolution, evinced a zeal for the cause; but not being able, at once, to obtain the rank and honors to which he aspired, he withdrew from the Insurgents, and enrolled himself under the Royal Banner. Ho rose rapidly in the servise of the King. His activity, energy, and real abilities, combined with a perfect knowledge of the county, made him a formidable Guerilla; and the extraordinary vigor and success with which he pushed the war upon his own countrymen, rendered him a favorite with the Vice-Roy; so that in a shor ttime he attained to an independent command; at the head of which he became a terror to the Insurgents, and required great notoriety for the ferocity of his warfare. He. was considered more cruel and rapacious than any of the Spanish Officers themselves, murdering for the love of crime, plundering the people and defrauding the govern- ment; and finally he dishonored the service to such a degree by his atrocities and malversations, that the authorities had to despoil him of his power. From 1816 to 1820, he was out of all public employ- ment.- Such was his situation when Apadoca approached him with his plans. He was an easy instrument; and readily embarked in the secret projects. General Armigo, at the head of a small division on the Acapulca road, was displaced on account of his attachment to the Constitution, and his command was given to Iturbecle, with the understanding that the latter was to proclaim for the King's cause and to move at once against Guerrero. For this purpose he left the city of Mexico in Febry. 1821.- 1t is not our object to investigate motives, but simply to give events; and therefore, without pausing to enquire into the causes of lturbede 's conduct, we shall content ourselves with stating, that as soon as Iturbede found himself at the head of this force, instead of carrying out the plan of the Viceroy, he determined to betray and defeat them; and indeed had accepted the command for this special purpose; for he had already secretly resolved to abandon the cause to which he had so long devoted himself, and in defense of which he had shed rivers of Creole blood, a,nd to unite with the Revolntionary party, which, as we have already stated, was ripe for a general rising. The times and circumstances being all favorable for the meditated change, he commenced the execution of his plans; first by seizing upon a ·million of dollars which he had been ordered to escort to Acapulco, and then uniting himself with the ·very person whom he had been commissioned to oppose.- When the union of Iturbede with Guerrero (which took place the day after the seizure of the money) was first proclaimed, the whole
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