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PAPERS OF MIRABEAU -BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
at the rate of a peso a day. Here were committed the greatest scenes of cruelty and abuse. The city was sacked for three days, and one Spaniard barely escaped the vengeance of the infuriated Indians, who could not be restrained. , From Guanajuato Hidalgo started for the Capital on the 10th of October, travelling by the road to Valladolid, which place he reached on the 17th, having had several slight engagements on the way. He was received with the most enthusiastic demonstrations of joy by the inhabitants, who r'einforced him with two regiments of militia and gave him more than a million pesos. Withdrawing to Indiaparapeo, he was there proclaimed Commander-in-Chief of the Mexican forces on the 24th of October and he then pulled off his priestly robes and donned the military uniform. Here Allende, Aldama, Jimenez, Aba- solo, Arias, Ocon, a1H1 the two nJartinez brothers were appointed gen- erals. Among the new recruits there was one, the celebrated 1Iorelos, who afterwards attained high rank and great distinction. By this time Hidalgo's army had increased to more than fifty thousand men. At the head of this army he started to Toluca, a distance of eleven leagues from the City of Mexico, where he arrived on the 28th of October. These movements caused the Royalists great alarm, which was fur- ther increased by the rapid progress of the revolution in other parts, several of the provinces having revolted. But the new Viceroy, Don Francisco Javier Venegas, who had been installed only two days before the war cry was sounded at Dolores, displayed great firmness in his measures against the insurgents fin J fortifying the city and inspiring the European population with courage. He was an ignorant and cruel man, without political or military ability, hut he possessed consider- able activity, energy, and courage. Taking advantage of the super- stition of the people, he iiwoked the curse of the Church upon the ·in- surgents. The Archbishop of }Iexico excommunicated them en masse, declaring them heretics and cursing them in body and in soul. The ceremony had its effect; it terrorized the timid and ignorant ones, and seriously decreased the popularity of the cause; but, nevertheless, these threats did not have any influence on Hidalgo's troops, for as he him- self belonged to the priesthood, he knew how to turn against his ad- versaries their own thrusts. In order to enhance the effect, Veneras appealed to the image of the Virgin de los Remedios; he threw his sceptre at her feet, imploring her to take the reins of government in her hands and save the country. However, he did not entirely confide the secnrity of the city to the Virgin, but he sent Colonel Trujillo with two thousand men, accompanied QY Augustine de Iturbide, who was then a lieutenant in the service of the King, to hold back the army which was approaching. The two forces met each other on the 30th of October iu a place called Las Cruzes, and the result was the defeat of Trujillo who, in a report which he sent to Venegas, boasted of having· shown a flag of truce, and after having demanded and re- ceive9- said flag, he ordered those who carried the flag to be shot, thus freeing himself, as he said, of them and of his promises. After this battle, Hidalgo adrnnced upon the Capital and arrayed his army within sight of the City. The Government forces were found scattered in various parts of the country, while the troops which re-
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