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PAPERS 01<' MIRABEAU BUONAPARTE LA.MAil
fame and power of Morelos were at their height. This extraordinary man did not become intoxicated with the glory of his high position, but on the contrary, he had modest pretensions and simple tastes. Superior to the other leaders in intellect, he nevertheless was not ambitious, egotistical or vain, and he devoted himself entirely to free- ing his country from the chains of tyranny, and to making it happy and glorious, not coveting any reward but the consciousness of doing good. Thinking that the time had come when it was necessary to organize the civil government, not only in order to free himself from the responsibility of being the only leader of the revolution, but also in order to give stability and dignity to his operations and to attract the attention and respect of foreign powers, he called a National Con- gress composed of forty individuals, including the original members of Rayon's Junta at Zitacuaro. The CQngress assembled on the 13th of September, 1813, at the town of Chilpancingo and worked with Jose Maria Liceaga as President. This body, upon being forced out of this place, removed to Apatzingan in the Province of Valladolid where it drew up a formal act of the independence of the country, and completed a constitution (October 22, 1814) which was promptly ac- cepted by the people and was sworn to by all of the provinces in which the standard of Independence had been raised. There can be no greater evidence of the disinterested patriotism of Morelos than the organization of this Congress. Nevertheless, the good which was expected of it was never realized. On the contrary, it was an obstacle in the progress of the revolution, since the military leaders were retarded and stupefied by the unending discussions which took place continuously. This destroyed all the confidence between the civil and military powers and placed them in a state of antagonism, so that the war on the side of the insurgents began to wane under the new government and finally became disastrous to the cause of inde- pendence. Morelos himself never lost his activity and energy, and in the forty battles in which he was engaged he was never defeated except in the attack on Valladolid. Having marched against the city with 7000 men, he was not only repulsed by the Spaniards, but was compelled to evac- uate the province. This was the beginning of a series of reversee which ended with his downfall. On his retreat from Valladolid he was accompanied by the Congress which had to work under the shadow of the army. When one of his divisions under the command of Mata- moros was defeated on the 6th of January, 1814 that leader was made prisoner by Iturbide, who by that time had attained the rank of Col- onel. Not muph later (1816) this result of having to send many of his peninsular forces to Texas, Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara was caus- ing great havoc for the Royalists. He had been sent as an agent to the United States by Hidalgo, as we have already mentioned, but not be- ing able to do anything with the Government at Washington, he or- ganized five hundred American volunteers and marched with them to Texa8. Having increased his forces by a number of Cochatte Indians and some of the inhabitants of the Province, he succeeded in destroy- ing three of the best armies which they could send against him and which approached in numbers ten thousand men. Having the atten-
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