PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR 215 in this document. The nation is proclaimed free and independent; the Roman Catholic religion is declared the religion of the State to the exclusion of all others, and the government is declared a constitutional monarchy. ·The Crown is offered, first to Fernando VII, and after- wards to Prince Carlos and Princess Paula; and in the case that all of these refuse it, the nation is free to elect an emperor from any of the ruling families. Until this organization should take place, the nation would be governed by a Junta headed by the Viceroy, the Count of Venadito. The Africans and Indians should have the riglit of protection, and the chance of holding any public office. Equal rights, privileges and protection should be assured the Spaniards and Creoles by placing them upon the same footing without any distinction, and all persons holding public office, whether of one class or another, who joined the revolt should continue in office. By a subsequent procla- mation all the King's officers were offered a commission in the Inde- pendent army next in rank above that which they held in the service of Spain. 22 Such were the principal articles of the system proposed by the new defender of the country's liberty, and n~ne better adapted to the time and circumstances could have been framed. It was a master stroke of policy and wisdom, uniting in one common cause the persons and classes whose principles; designs and interests were diametrically opposed. The Clergy was satisfied with the plan, because it left its power and possessions intact and protected them against modern innovations; the majority of the Spaniards accepted it because it assured them safety and support, and at the same time offered the throne to the Bourbons of Spain; and the Creoles, although they were not satisfied with this last article, nevertheless adopted it because it unequivocally established the independence of the country. These three objects, independence, religion, and the union of the Spaniards and Creoles were named the three guarantees, and the army which was to support and defend them was to be called the Army of the Three Guarantees. A copy of the plan was sent to Apodaca, as soon as it was published, and this was the first news or intimation that the Viceroy received, of the hostility of his disloyal subject. The war then began openly, Iturbide defending the cause of the people, and Apodaca that of his Sovereign. The latter's forces were insufficient for the purpose, and the party adhering to him was very weak compared to its opponents, consisting only of the Spaniards of the old hemisphere, the friends of absolutism who still adhered to the old order of things. On the other hand, the independents were very dif- ferently situated in this war from what they had been in the first. Hidalgo was a priest sufficiently endowed by nature but without any military experience or knowledge of government. Neither did he have the necessary means for carrying on war. He commanded an army of ignorant Indians, without arms, without organization and without com- petent officers. His overthrow was a natural consequence, but there were now in the field renowned military leaders at the head of forces which were well disciplined, abundantly equipped and composed of intelligent people, equal to the enemy in skill and valor and doubly
22 Though not made clear in the Spanish, the subsequent actions of Santa Anna show that the new rank was to be one grade above that held in the royal army.
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